## 3 Science Data Product Performance
### The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Instrument and Science Data Products
The VIIRS active fire (AF) land product, used together with the aerosol products, has the heritage of the MODIS Collection 4 version of the algorithm [46; 65; 66], and is an operational M-band product at 750 m resolution identifying fire hot spots or cloudy conditions over either land or water. The AF product also provides the fire radiative power (FRP), a proxy for the intensity of fire, for each fire pixel. The NOAA JSTAR team is also evaluating an experimental/research AF product at I/M-band 375 m resolution, and validation of this experimental product is planned via campaigns of opportunities. Figure 8 shows an example of the AF products for the King Fire in CA in September 2014 with VIIRS fire product in the middle panel for 750 m resolution, the right panel for 375 m resolution, and MODIS (1 km) fire product in the left panel. The VIIRS fire data product and the MODIS fire data products show good agreement, and the higher spatial resolution VIIRS product shows a higher number of detections, improved mapping capability, and the higher fidelity required for near real-time alert systems. The S-NPP NDE AF algorithm has been in operations since March 2016. The team is currently optimizing the 375 m enterprise algorithm product, which combines the advantages of high spatial resolution I-band data with the good radiometric signal of M-band for FRP. The aerosol products and the AF products are used routinely for estimating bio-mass burning emissions and operational air quality forecasting [67]. These products, such as the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) and the blended Global Biomass Burning Emissions Product (GBBEPx) [68] are provided to many users with imagery and integrated air quality analysis tools available through the Enhanced Infusing Satellite Data into Environmental Applications (eIDEA) website [69], which blends polar and geostationary fire hot spot data for real-time information. The VIIRS operational cryosphere products [70; 71; 72; 73] include two snow products (binary snow cover and snow fraction) and three ice products (ice surface temperature, ice concentration, and ice thickness/age), as shown in Figure 9. The VIIRS polar winds product is also considered to be among the cryosphere products. As part of JPSS, the GCOM Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR2) instrument (see Section 3.4) also provides three snow products (snow cover, snow depth, and snow water equivalent) and two sea ice products (sea ice concentration and sea ice type). These products are operational and meet accuracy and precision requirements (Table 8). Figure 8: The VIIRS Active Fire Product (**middle panel** for 750 m and **right panel** for 375 m) and comparison with MODIS (**left panel**) King Fire, CA/September 2014. This higher spatial resolution VIIRS product shows higher number of detections, improved mapping capability, and higher fidelity needed for near real-time alerts. (Figure courtesy: [PERSON], [PERSON], STAR Active Fire Team). In addition to the products overviewed in this paper, there are more VIIRS EDR products, and the JSTAR website provides a complete description as well as evaluations.