Suomi NPP Data Product Delivery To Cease On November 1, 2026

[LP DAAC - jwilson]

Delivery of science data products from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite will cease at 13:00 Universal Time (UTC) on November 1, 2026 (2026/305), NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) announced on August 3, 2026. NASA archives and distributes data from Suomi NPP through Earthdata and multiple distributed data archive centers.

Please note that the cessation date for Suomi NPP data is subject to change, and further updates will be provided as November 1 approaches.

In general, Suomi NPP data users can transition to NOAA-21 and NOAA-20 data products, which are accessible via NASA’s Earthdata Search and NOAA’s Product Distribution and Access (PDA) system. NOAA-21 and NOAA-20 are part of the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) fleet and were designed to continue the Suomi NPP legacy by providing comparable science data products via similar instruments.

This includes data from the following instruments aboard Suomi NPP:

VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite)
CrIS (Cross-track Infrared Sounder)
ATMS (Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder)
OMPS (Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite
CERES (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System)
Starting the transition now will allow users to adapt and implement algorithms and workflows before Suomi NPP data delivery ends. Additional information about complementary science data products will be shared as soon as they are available.

More details can be found in the official NESDIS announcement.

Please contact Earthdata Support with any questions.
https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/data/alerts-outages/suomi-npp-data-product-delivery-cease-november-1-2026

[jesteba1]

Thank you for the update. I have a specific question regarding long-term data continuity. Since 2012, my workflow has relied on generating daily composites combining VIIRS Surface Reflectance data from Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20, and NOAA-21.With the cessation of Suomi-NPP data on November 1st, future daily composites will only incorporate NOAA-20 and NOAA-21. Is it scientifically valid to directly compare these future 2-satellite composites with my historical 3-satellite time series? I would appreciate any insights on how the loss of the Suomi-NPP orbit and overpass time might affect daily compositing consistency, and if any cross-calibration adjustments are recommended.

[LP DAAC - dgolon]

Hello @jesteba1 Apologies for the delay, we are confirming with the VIIRS Science Team and will follow up with a response.

[LP DAAC - lien]

Hello @jesteba1 ,
While we are waiting for direction on this from the science team you may want to check on how it effects your specific case. If you could go back to one of your previous processes and reprocess it using only the NOAA 20 and 21 inputs and compare that output with the 3-sensor output, then we would have a specific use case. As soon as we hear from the science team we will pass it along.
Thanks,
Brett

[LP DAAC - lien]

Hello @jesteba1
We did get the science teams take on this issue, please see below.
Thanks,
Brett

"Starting with VIIRS Collection 2, LandSIPS has implemented cross-calibration to ensure data continuity between all three VIIRS instruments, from SNPP, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21 and MODIS Aqua. So, surface reflectance from NOAA-20 and NOAA-21 should be within I% of each other and with respect to SNPP. We have considered NOAA-20 as the reference for this.

SNPP, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21, all fly within a span of 50 minutes, with NOAA-21 and NOAA-20 separated by half-orbit (50 minutes) and SNPP tucked-in between them, separated by a quarter of an orbit. So, in terms of daily coverage, you are not losing much in terms of diurnal variability."