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Description

This data suite provides the remote sensing reflectance at wavelength λ (nm)—the ratio of water-leaving radiance to downwelling irradiance just above the surface (units sr⁻¹). Variables are named by their band center (e.g., Rrs_412, Rrs_443). Users should review per-file quality flags (e.g., land, cloud, sun glint, high aerosol) and mission documentation—especially in optically complex coastal/inland waters.

Geophysical variables in this suite include:
• Rrs_λ — Remote sensing reflectance at λ nm (sr⁻¹)

Version Description

Reprocessing of Ocean Color (OC) Datasets

Product Summary

Platforms
NOAA-21
Instruments
VIIRS
Spatial Extent

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

Geographic Region
GLOBAL OCEAN
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2022-11-10 to Present
Data Partner
Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) ,
Ocean Biology Distributed Active Archive Center (OB.DAAC), Global Change Data Center, Earth Sciences Division, Science and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/GCDC/OB.DAAC)
Concept ID
C3779579762-OB_CLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
16282
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Reflectance ,
Aerosol Optical Depth/Thickness ,
Angstrom Exponent

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

NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group. (2025). NOAA-21 VIIRS Level 3 Mapped Remote-Sensing Reflectance Data, Version 2025.0 [Data set]. NASA Ocean Biology Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/NOAA-21/VIIRS/L3M/RRS/2025.0 Date Accessed: 2025-12-14

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
angstrom angstrom N/A int16 -32767 -30000 to 5000 9.9999997473788E-5
aot_868 aot_868 N/A int16 -32767 0 to 30000 9.9999997473788E-5
lat lat degrees_north float32 -999 -90 to 90 N/A
lon lon degrees_east float32 -999 -180 to 180 N/A
palette palette N/A uint8 N/A N/A N/A
Rrs_411 Rrs_411 sr^-1 int16 -32767 -30000 to 25000 1.9999999949505E-6
Rrs_445 Rrs_445 sr^-1 int16 -32767 -30000 to 25000 1.9999999949505E-6
Rrs_489 Rrs_489 sr^-1 int16 -32767 -30000 to 25000 1.9999999949505E-6
Rrs_556 Rrs_556 sr^-1 int16 -32767 -30000 to 25000 1.9999999949505E-6
Rrs_667 Rrs_667 sr^-1 int16 -32767 -30000 to 25000 1.9999999949505E-6
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