NOAA-20 VIIRS on-orbit performance, data quality, and operational Cal/Val support

Changyong Cao; Slawomir Blonski; Wenhui Wang; Sirish Uprety; Xi Shao; Jason Choi; Erin Lynch; Satya Kalluri

doi:10.1117/12.2324329

19 November 2018 NOAA-20 VIIRS on-orbit performance, data quality, and operational Cal/Val support

Changyong Cao, Slawomir Blonski, Wenhui Wang, Sirish Uprety, Xi Shao, Jason Choi, Erin Lynch, Satya Kalluri

Proceedings Volume 10781, Earth Observing Missions and Sensors: Development, Implementation, and Characterization V; 107810K (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2324329
Event: SPIE Asia-Pacific Remote Sensing, 2018, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

Abstract

The NOAA-20 (aka JPSS-1) satellite was successfully launched on November 18, 2017 as the first in the JPSS satellite series, and a follow-on to the Suomi NPP satellite mission. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard is a major Earth observing instrument with 22 spectral bands covering the 0.41um to 12.5 μm spectral range with spatial resolutions of 375 and 750 meters for the imaging and radiometric bands respectively. Since the VIIRS nadir and cryocooler doors were opened on December 13, 2017, and January 3, 2018 respectively, the instrument has been performing well and producing high quality data. The VIIRS Sensor Data Record (SDR) team has been supporting the postlaunch tests and extensive calibration/validation to ensure radiometric, spectral, and spatial performance.

This paper provides a comprehensive summary of the studies in the postlaunch calibration/validation activities which enables the VIIRS SDR to reach beta, provisional, and calibrated/validation product maturity. The instrument performance is quantified through a large number of tests involving onboard, maneuvers, as well as vicarious calibration/validation. Several issues found in the ground processing are addressed through updating the calibration input parameters known as the lookup tables (LUTs). Instrument performance waivers including the non-standard aggregation mode for the Day/Night band (DNB) and related features are addressed. On-orbit anomalies and mitigations such as the longwave infrared band degradation and saturation in some bands are also discussed. With a local equator crossing time of ~1:30pm with ~50.5 min separation from Suomi NPP achieved since January 2, 2018, NOAA-20 VIIRS provides important Earth observations for generating more than 26 global environmental data records including clouds, sea surface temperature, polar wind, aerosol, vegetation fraction, ocean color, fire, snow and ice for weather, and other environmental applications.

Citation Download Citation

Changyong Cao, Slawomir Blonski, Wenhui Wang, Sirish Uprety, Xi Shao, Jason Choi, Erin Lynch, and Satya Kalluri "NOAA-20 VIIRS on-orbit performance, data quality, and operational Cal/Val support", Proc. SPIE 10781, Earth Observing Missions and Sensors: Development, Implementation, and Characterization V, 107810K (19 November 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2324329

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available