VNP15A2H: LAI/FPAR 8-Day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid

  • The VNP15A2H dataset provides VIIRS Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) data at 500 meter resolution.

  • The data is available from 2012-01-17 to 2025-09-30 with an 8-day cadence.

  • This product is designed to promote continuity with the MODIS LAI/FPAR operational algorithm.

  • The dataset includes bands for FPAR, LAI, and associated quality control and standard deviation information.

  • NASA data from LP DAAC is freely accessible, with a request to cite the datasets when used in publications.

NASA/VIIRS/002/VNP15A2H
Dataset Availability
2012-01-17T00:00:00Z–2025-10-08T00:00:00Z
Dataset Provider
Earth Engine Snippet
ee.ImageCollection("NASA/VIIRS/002/VNP15A2H")
Cadence
8 Days
Tags
land nasa noaa surface vegetation-indices viirs

Description

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 onboard the NOAA/NASA joint 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.

Documentation:

Bands

Pixel Size
500 meters

Bands

Name Units Pixel Size Description
Fpar meters

Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation.

FparExtra_QC meters

Pass-through Quality Control (QC) for FPAR

FparLai_QC meters

Quality for LAI and FPAR

FparStdDev meters

Standard deviation of FPAR

Lai Area fraction meters

Leaf Area Index

LaiStdDev Area fraction meters

Standard deviation for LAI

Terms of Use

Terms of Use

LP DAAC NASA data are freely accessible; however, when an author publishes these data or works based on the data, it is requested that the author cite the datasets within the text of the publication and include a reference to them in the reference list.

Citations

Citations:

DOIs

Explore with Earth Engine

Code Editor (JavaScript)

var dataset = ee.ImageCollection('NASA/VIIRS/002/VNP15A2H')
                  .filter(ee.Filter.date('2022-11-01', '2022-12-01'));

var visualization = {
  bands: ['Lai'],
  min: [0],
  max: [4],
  palette: [
    'a50026',
    'd73027',
    'f46d43',
    'fdae61',
    'fee08b',
    'ffffbf',
    'd9ef8b',
    'a6d96a',
    '66bd63',
    '1a9850',
    '006837',
  ]
};
Map.setCenter(41.2, 38.84, 3);
Map.addLayer(dataset, visualization, 'Leaf Area Index (LAI)');
Open in Code Editor