Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite

The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite was launched on Oct. 28, 2011, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, with 5 key instruments, including the first Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) flight unit. VIIRS extends and improves upon a series of measurements initiated by its predecessors, the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).

JPSS, a NOAA/NASA program, and the Defense Weather Satellite System, a U.S. Air Force program, were tasked with the next-generation requirements for environmental research, weather forecasting and climate monitoring measurement capabilities that Suomi-NPP represents. Today there are two VIIRS instruments in orbit, the JPSS-1 platform, now transitioned to NOAA-20, and the S-NPP satellite. A third VIIRS instrument will be launched aboard the second JPSS, expected in late 2022.

Since 2004, scientists funded by NOAA and NASA have evaluated and validated the JPSS VIIRS Land operational products. These products were created before launch by applying VIIRS code to MODIS data. In 2014, based on this long period of product evaluation, NASA independently embarked on a program to create enhanced operational products and additional products not included in NOAA's operational suite to provide dynamic continuity with their well-established MODIS data record. This program, known as 'The Science of Terra, Aqua, Suomi-NPP, and JPSS Series Satellites', offers investigators an opportunity to conduct integrative research using the data and products resulting from the Terra, Aqua, Suomi NPP, and JPSS (T/A/SNPP/JPSS) satellites. In addition, this program element aims to support the work of science discipline teams integrated across the T/A/SNPP/JPSS satellites.