Skip to main content

Description

The VNP13A1 VIIRS Version 1 data product was decommissioned on April 8th, 2025. Users are encouraged to use Version 2 data products, which provide better calibration and consistency for the end user. VIIRS Version 2 data products are available from both the SNPP (VNP13A1) and NOAA-20 (VJ113A1) satellites.

The NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Vegetation Indices (VNP13A1) Version 1 data product provides vegetation indices by a process of selecting the best available pixel over a 16-day acquisition period at 500 meter (m) resolution. The VNP13 data products are designed after the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra and Aqua Vegetation Indices product suite to promote the continuity of the Earth Observation System (EOS) mission.

The VNP13 algorithm process produces three vegetation indices: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI),the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), and Enhanced Vegetation Index-2 (EVI2). NDVI is one of the longest continual remotely sensed time series observations, using both the red and near-infrared (NIR) bands. EVI is a slightly different vegetation index that is more sensitive to canopy cover, while NDVI is more sensitive to chlorophyll. EVI2 is a reformation of the standard 3-band EVI, using the red band and NIR band. This reformation addresses arising issues when comparing VIIRS EVI to other EVI models that do not include a blue band. EVI2 will eventually become the standard EVI.

Along with the three Vegetation Indices layers, this product also includes layers for NIR reflectance; three shortwave infrared (SWIR) reflectance; red, blue, and green reflectance; composite day of year; pixel reliability; relative azimuth, view, and sun angles; and a quality layer. Two low resolution browse images are also available for each VNP13A1 product: EVI and NDVI.

Known Issues

  • The incorrect representation of the aerosol quantities (low, average, high) in the VIIRS Land Surface Reflectance product (VNP09) may have impacted VNP13 Vegetation Index data products particularly over arid bright surfaces.
  • Corrections were implemented in 2023 with the release of the Version 2 Vegetation Index data products. Users are encouraged to use the improved Version 2 data.
  • For complete information about known issues please refer to the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website.

Product Summary

Platforms
Suomi-NPP
Instruments
VIIRS
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
500 Meters x 500 Meters
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2012-01-17 to 2024-06-08
Temporal Resolution
16 Day
Data Partner
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) ,
Land Science Investigator-led Processing System, Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, Sciences and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/LandSIPS)
Concept ID
C2763377727-LPCLOUD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Vegetation Index ,
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) ,
Plant Phenology ,
Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

Didan, K., & Barreto, A. (2018). VIIRS/NPP Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V001 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP13A1.001 Date Accessed: 2026-04-30

File Naming Convention

VNP13A1.A2024145.h01v08.001.2024165120957.h5

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (VNP13A1) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2024145), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h01v08), the Version of the data collection (001), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2024165120957), and the Data Format (h5).

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author Topic
Navigating multi-predator dynamic risk landscapes in anthropogenic Gehr, Benedikt, Smith, Adam. F., Ciuti, Simone, Muff, Stefanie, Bonnot, Nadege C., Ossi, Federico, Morellet, Nicolas, Berger, Anne, Borowik, Tomasz, De Groeve, Johannes, Heurich, Marco, Keller, Lukas, Kjellander, Petter, Kroeschel, Max, Nicoloso, Sandro, Ranc, Nathan, Sunde, Peter, Torres, Rita T., Gaillard, Jean-Michel, Cagnacci, Francesca Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Plant Phenology
Evaluating the role of low-cost sensors in machine learning based Shetty, Shobitha, Hassani, Amirhossein, Hamer, Paul D., Stebel, Kerstin, Salamalikis, Vasileios, Berntsen, Terje Koren, Castell, Nuria, Schneider, Philipp Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Climate-Induced Vegetation Stress Detected Through Remote Sensing of Bayazit, Esra, Kartal, Veysi, Sammen, Saad Sh., Scholz, Miklas Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Plant Phenology
Regional vs local LSTM models for short-term streamflow forecasting Saavedra-Garrido, Jorge, Arevalo, Jorge, De La Fuente, Luis, Tapia, Aldo, Paredes-Arroyo, Christopher, Cordova, Ana Maria, Velandia, Daira, Alvarez, Pablo, Reyes-Serrano, Hector, Salas, Rodrigo Terrain Elevation, RADAR IMAGERY, Topographical Relief Maps, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Plant Phenology
Temperature and precipitation seasonality drive morphological divergence in the neotropical bat genus Vampyrodes (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) Velazco, Paul M., Scholl, Connor, Johnson, Riley, Hoos, Faith, Esquivel, Diego A. Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Plant Phenology
Social status as a developmental process in wild vervet monkeys: beyond maternal inheritance Vilette, Chloe, Nord, Christina M., Bonnell, Tyler R., Dostie, Marcus J., McFarland, Richard, Young, Christopher, Henzi, S. Peter, Barrett, Louise Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Plant Phenology
Widespread biophysical cooling effects due to post-fire greening Xi, Huipeng, Wang, Qunming, Xiao, Yuelong, Guo, Ru, Tong, Xiaohua, Atkinson, Peter M. Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Albedo, Anisotropy, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Evapotranspiration, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Latent Heat Flux, Burned Area, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity
LinU-Mamba: Visual Mamba U-Net with Linear Attention to Predict Wildfire Andrianarivony, Henintsoa S., Akhloufi, Moulay A. Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Estimating vegetation indices and biophysical parameters for Central European temperate forests with Sentinel-1 SAR data and machine learning Paluba, Daniel, Le Saux, Bertrand, Sarti, Francesco, Stych, Premysl Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Plant Phenology
Ecosystem multistability maintained by water resource management in Wang, Bo, Li, Anyuan, Zhu, Meng, Liu, Wei, Lu, Zhixiang, Liu, Wen, Xu, Chi, Feng, Qi Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Plant Phenology
Exploring the relationship between vegetation greenness and precipitation on the Tibetan plateau during the growing season Yang, Xiaolei, Sun, Shaobo, Song, Zhaoliang, Che, Tao Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Plant Phenology, Vegetation Index
Can real-time NDVI observations better constrain SMAP soil moisture Feng, Sijia, Gao, Lun, Qiu, Jianxiu, Liu, Xiaoping, Crow, Wade T., Zhao, Tianjie, Tan, Chao, Wang, Shaohua, Wigneron, Jean-Pierre Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Vegetation Index, Precipitation, Precipitation Amount, Precipitation Rate, Snow, Rain
Daily high-resolution surface PM<sub>2.5</sub> estimation over Europe by Shetty, Shobitha, Hamer, Paul D., Stebel, Kerstin, Kylling, Arve, Hassani, Amirhossein, Berntsen, Terje Koren, Schneider, Philipp Population Density, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Aquatic Ecosystems, Terrestrial Ecosystems, Vegetation, Soils
Digital mapping of peat thickness and carbon stock of global peatlands Widyastuti, Marliana Tri, Minasny, Budiman, Padarian, Jose, Maggi, Federico, Aitkenhead, Matt, Beucher, Amelie, Connolly, John, Fiantis, Dian, Kidd, Darren, Ma, Yuxin, Macfarlane, Fraser, Robb, Ciaran, Rudiyanto, Setiawan, Budi I., Taufik, Muh Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Stratigraphic Sequence, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Soil Depth, Sediments
The changing face of the Arctic: four decades of greening and implications for tundra ecosystems Frost, Gerald V., Bhatt, Uma S., Macander, Matthew J., Berner, Logan T., Walker, Donald A., Raynolds, Martha K., Magnusson, Runa I., Bartsch, Annett, Bjerke, Jarle W., Epstein, Howard E., Forbes, Bruce C., Goetz, Scott J., Hoy, Elizabeth E., Karlsen, Stein R., Kumpula, Timo, Lantz, Trevor C., Lara, Mark J., Lopez-Blanco, Efren, Montesano, Paul M., Neigh, Christopher S. R., Nitze, Ingmar, Orndahl, Kathleen M., Park, Taejin, Phoenix, Gareth K., Rocha, Adrian V., Rogers, Brendan M., Schaepman-Strub, Gabriela, Tmmervik, Hans, Verdonen, Mariana, Veremeeva, Alexandra, Virkkala, Anna-Maria, Waigl, Christine F. Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Plant Phenology, Vegetation Index
Microbial diversity in the arid and semi-arid soils of Botswana Tidimalo, Coetzee, Maximiliano, Ortiz, Karen, Jordaan, Lebre, Pedro H., Bernard, Olivier, Michelle, Greve, Oagile, Dikinya, Cowan, Don A. Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Per-Pixel Forest Attribute Mapping and Error Estimation: The Google Earth Engine and R dataDriven Tool Francini, Saverio, Marcelli, Agnese, Chirici, Gherardo, Di Biase, Rosa Maria, Fattorini, Lorenzo, Corona, Piermaria Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Reflectance, Albedo, Anisotropy, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Automated generation of consistent annual maximum NDVI on coal bases with a new algorithm Li, Jun, Qin, Tingting, Zhang, Chengye, Zhang, Yicong, Zhang, Yaping, Shi, Haitao, Yang, Yihao Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Vegetation Index
Vegetation phenology as a key driver for fire occurrence in the UK and comparable humid temperate regions Nikonovas, Tadas, Santin, Cristina, Belcher, Claire M., Clay, Gareth D., Kettridge, Nicholas, Smith, Thomas E. L., Doerr, Stefan H. Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Paying Attention to Wildfire: Using U-Net with Attention Blocks on Multimodal Data for Next Day Prediction Fitzgerald, Jack, Seefried, Ethan, Yost, James E, Pallickara, Sangmi, Blanchard, Nathaniel Population Density, Fire Occurrence, Surface Thermal Properties, Land Surface Temperature, THERMAL ANOMALIES, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
An improved dynamic threshold method for determining the start of the vegetation greening season in remote sensing monitoring: The case of Inner Mongolia Li, Haoxin, Li, Frank Yonghong, Guo, Jingpeng, Gao, Xiaotian Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
Detection of vegetation drying signals using diurnal variation of land surface temperature: Application to the 2018 East Asia heatwave Yamamoto, Yuhei, Ichii, Kazuhito, Ryu, Youngryel, Kang, Minseok, Murayama, Shohei, Kim, Su-Jin, Cleverly, Jamie R. Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
A map of global peatland extent created using machine learning (Peat-ML) Melton, Joe R., Chan, Ed, Millard, Koreen, Fortier, Matthew, Winton, R. Scott, Martin-Lopez, Javier M., Cadillo-Quiroz, Hinsby, Kidd, Darren, Verchot, Louis V. Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
Next day wildfire spread: A machine learning dataset to predict wildfire spreading from remote-sensing data Huot, Fantine, Hu, R. Lily, Goyal, Nita, Sankar, Tharun, Ihme, Matthias, Chen, Yi-Fan Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Fire Occurrence, Surface Thermal Properties, Land Surface Temperature, THERMAL ANOMALIES, Plant Phenology
Biogeographical survey of soil microbiomes across sub-Saharan Africa: structure, drivers, and predicted climate-driven changes Cowan, DA, Lebre, PH, Amon, CER, Becker, RW, Boga, HI, Boulange, A, Chiyaka, TL, Coetzee, T, de Jager, PC, Dikinya, O, Eckardt, F, Greve, M, Harris, MA, Hopkins, DW, Houngnandan, HB, Houngnandan, P, Jordaan, K, Kaimoyo, E, Kambura, AK, Kamgan-Nkuekam, G, Makhalanyane, TP, Maggs-Kolling, G, Marais, E, Mondlane, H, Nghalipo, E, Olivier, BW, Ortiz, M, Pertierra, LR, Ramond, J-B, Seely, M, Sithole-Niang, I, Valverde, A, Varliero, G, Vikram, S, Wall, DH, Zeze, A Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Analysis of multifractal and organization/order structure in Suomi-NPP VIIRS normalized difference vegetation index series of wildfire affected and unaffected sites by ... Ba, Rui, Song, Weiguo, Lovallo, Michele, Lo, Siuming, Telesca, Luciano Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Dynamics of evapotranspiration over a non-irrigated alfalfa field in the Southern Great Plains of the United States Wagle, Pradeep, Gowda, Prasanna H., Northup, Brian K. Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Plant Phenology
You're viewing 27 of 27

Variables

The table below lists the variables contained within a single granule for this dataset. Variables often contain observed or derived geophysical measurements collected from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and model outputs. The terms variable, parameter, scientific data set, layer, and band have been used across NASA’s Earth science disciplines; however, variable is the designated nomenclature in NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR). Variable metadata attributes such as Name, Description, Units, Data Type, Fill Value, Valid Range, and Scale Factor allow users to efficiently process and analyze the data. The full range of attributes may not be applicable to all variables. Additional information on variable attributes is typically available in the data, user guide, and/or other product documentation.

For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor Offset
500 m 16 days blue reflectance Blue band reflectance (478–498 nm) N/A int16 -1000 0 to 10000 10000 N/A
500 m 16 days composite day of the year Day of year for the pixel Julian day int16 -1 1 to 366 N/A N/A
500 m 16 days EVI 3 band Enhanced Vegetation Index EVI int16 -15000 -10000 to 10000 10000 N/A
500 m 16 days EVI2 2 band Enhanced Vegetation Index EVI2 int16 -15000 -10000 to 10000 10000 N/A
500 m 16 days green reflectance Green band reflectance (545–565 nm) N/A int16 -1000 0 to 10000 10000 N/A
500 m 16 days NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index NDVI int16 -15000 -10000 to 10000 10000 N/A
500 m 16 days NIR reflectance Near-infrared Radiation reflectance (846–885 nm) N/A int16 -1000 0 to 10000 10000 N/A
500 m 16 days pixel reliability Pixel usefulness using a simple rank class Rank int8 -4 0 to 11 N/A N/A
500 m 16 days red reflectance Red band reflectance (600–680 nm) N/A int16 -1000 0 to 10000 10000 N/A
500 m 16 days relative azimuth angle Relative azimuth angle for each pixel Degree int16 -20000 -18000 to 18000 100 N/A
500 m 16 days sun zenith angle Sun zenith angle for each pixel Degree int16 -20000 0 to 18000 100 N/A
500 m 16 days SWIR1 reflectance Shortwave Infrared Radiation reflectance (1230–1250 nm) N/A int16 -1000 0 to 10000 10000 N/A
500 m 16 days SWIR2 reflectance Shortwave Infrared Radiation reflectance (1580–1640 nm) N/A int16 -1000 0 to 10000 10000 N/A
500 m 16 days SWIR3 reflectance Shortwave Infrared Radiation reflectance (2225–2275 nm) N/A int16 -1000 0 to 10000 10000 N/A
500 m 16 days view zenith angle View zenith angle for each pixel Degree int16 -20000 0 to 18000 100 N/A
500 m 16 days VI Quality Bit field that assigns each pixel a Quality Assessment (QA) attribute N/A uint16 65535 0 to 65534 N/A N/A
You're viewing 16 of 16