NRT vs Standard Products
The major difference between Near Real Time (NRT) and Standard products is how quickly they are produced (latency). However, generating products in near real time can cause differences from the standard, science quality products. For summaries of these differences, see the discussions at Near Real-Time versus Standard Products on the Earthdata web site.
For more complete details, refer to the following documents:
Comparison of Standard and NRT Products:
- MODIS C6.1 Atmosphere
- MODIS MAIAC (MCD19AxC)
- MODIS & VIIRS L3 ”n-day” Land Products
- VIIRS C1 Land (Suomi)
- VIIRS C1 LST&E (VNP21)
- VIIRS C2 Land (JPSS1)
If latency is not a primary concern, users are encouraged to use the standard science products, which are created using the best available ancillary, calibration, and ephemeris information.
Standard products corresponding to NRT products are archived as follows:
- MODIS science quality atmosphere and L1 products are available through NASA's Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS)
- MODIS science quality land products are available from NASA's Land Processes DAAC (LP DAAC) and NSIDC DAAC (snow and ice)
- VIIRS science quality products are available through NASA's Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS)