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Description

The VNP15A2H 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 (VNP15A2H) and NOAA-20 (VJ115A2H) satellites.

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) Version 1 data product provides information about the vegetative canopy layer at 500 meter resolution (VNP15A2H). The VIIRS sensor is located aboard the NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite. LAI is an index that quantifies the one-sided leaf area of a canopy, while FPAR is the fraction of incoming solar energy absorbed through photosynthesis at 400 to 700 nanometers. This product is intentionally designed after the Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LAI/FPAR operational algorithm to promote the continuity of the Earth Observation System (EOS) mission.

The VNP15A2H product includes six Science Data Set Layers for the analysis of key factors in LAI/FPAR measurements. These include the LAI and FPAR measurements, quality detail for LAI/FPAR, extra quality detail for FPAR, and the standard deviation for LAI and FPAR. Two low resolution browse images are also available for each VNP15A2H granule: LAI and FPAR.

Known Issues

Product Summary

Platforms
Suomi-NPP
Instruments
VIIRS
Spatial Extent

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

Spatial Resolution
500 Meters x 500 Meters
Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2012-01-17 to 2024-06-16
Temporal Resolution
8 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
C2763377739-LPCLOUD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
Processing Level
4
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Leaf Characteristics ,
Photosynthetically Active Radiation ,
LEAF AREA INDEX (LAI) ,
Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)

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

Myneni, R., & Knyazikhin, Y. (2018). VIIRS/NPP Leaf Area Index/FPAR 8-Day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V001 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP15A2H.001 Date Accessed: 2025-12-14

File Naming Convention

VNP15A2H.A2024161.h01v10.001.2024169131056.h5

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (VNP15A2H) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2024161), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h01v10), the Version of the data collection (001), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2024169131056), and the Data Format (h5).

Documents

Variables

Variables are a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. For example, temperature and pressure are variables of the atmosphere. Parameters and variables can be used interchangeably. Variable level attributes provide individual information for each variable.

The Name in this table is the variable name. Fill value indicates missing or undefined data points in a variable. Valid range is the range of values the variable can store. Scale factor is used to increase or decrease the size of an object and can be used to correct for distortion. For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
Fpar Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation N/A uint8 249 0 to 100 0.01
FparExtra_QC Pass-through Quality Control (QC) for FPAR Class Flag uint8 255 0 to 254 N/A
FparLai_QC Quality for LAI and FPAR Class Flag uint8 255 0 to 254 N/A
FparStdDev Standard deviation of FPAR N/A uint8 248 0 to 100 0.01
Lai Leaf Area Index m²/m² uint8 249 0 to 100 0.1
LaiStdDev Standard deviation for LAI m²/m² uint8 248 0 to 100 0.1
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