diff --git a/modules/util/viirs_l1b_l2.py b/modules/util/viirs_l1b_l2.py
index 824077d52d59948724cbf7be918e5e271418bae1..f1dd82fa53f63c11413607eda1d1458c8d464701 100644
--- a/modules/util/viirs_l1b_l2.py
+++ b/modules/util/viirs_l1b_l2.py
@@ -62,6 +62,8 @@ def keep_tile(param_s, tile):
     grd_k = tile[k, ].flatten()
     keep = np.invert(np.isnan(grd_k))
     total = np.sum(keep)
+    if total == 0:
+        return False
     keep = np.where(keep, np.invert(np.logical_and(0.05 < grd_k, grd_k < 0.95)), False)
 
     if np.sum(keep)/total > 0.5: