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Biospheric Sciences
Operational

Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument collects visible and infrared imagery and global observations of land, atmosphere, cryosphere and oceans. Currently flying on the Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 satellite missions, VIIRS generates many critical environmental products about snow and ice cover, clouds, fog, aerosols, fire, smoke plumes, dust, vegetation health, phytoplankton abundance, and chlorophyll. VIIRS will also be on the JPSS-3 and JPSS-4 satellites.

Launch Date
October 28, 2011
Class
Instrument
Website

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument collects visible and infrared imagery and global observations of land, atmosphere, cryosphere and oceans. Currently flying on the Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 satellite missions, VIIRS generates many critical environmental products about snow and ice cover, clouds, fog, aerosols, fire, smoke plumes, dust, vegetation health, phytoplankton abundance, and chlorophyll. VIIRS will also be on the JPSS-3 and JPSS-4 satellites.

Related Publications

2026. "A mixed-methods approach to identify archetypes of wildfire management end-users of active fire earth observation satellite data.", International Journal of Digital Earth, 19 (1): 2640779 [10.1080/17538947.2026.2640779] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "Expand air quality monitoring of smoke emissions and exposure in Amazonia to safeguard human health.", Discover Environment, 3 (1): 171 [10.1007/s44274-025-00340-5] [Journal Article/Letter]

2026. "Multi-ignition fire complexes drive extreme fire years and impacts.", Science Advances, 12 (1): eadx6477 [10.1126/sciadv.adx6477] [Journal Article/Letter]

2026. "The Amazon River‐Breeze Circulation Limits Detection of Aerosol‐Cloud Interactions in Warm Clouds.", AGU Advances, 7 (2): e2025AV002188 [10.1029/2025av002188] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "Analysis of a saline dust storm from the Aralkum Desert – Part 1: Consistency between multisensor satellite aerosol products.", Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 25 (13): 7403-7429 [10.5194/acp-25-7403-2025] [Journal Article/Letter]