Evaluation of NOAA-21 VIIRS thermal emissive bands early on-orbit calibration performance

Wenhui Wang; Slawomir Blonski; Taeyoung Choi

doi:10.1117/12.2676084

4 October 2023 Evaluation of NOAA-21 VIIRS thermal emissive bands early on-orbit calibration performance

Wenhui Wang, Slawomir Blonski, Taeyoung Choi

Proceedings Volume 12685, Earth Observing Systems XXVIII; 1268511 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2676084
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2023, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the NOAA-21 satellite was successfully launched on November 10, 2022, as a follow-on to the VIIRS onboard the Sumi-NPP (S-NPP) and NOAA-20 satellites. NOAA-21 VIIRS has been under the intensive cal/val phase since its cold Focal Plane Array (CFPA) temperature reached nominal operating temperatures (on late February 10, 2023). This study focuses on NOAA-21 VIIRS Thermal Emissive Bands (TEB, I4-I5 and M12-M14) early on-orbit performance. NOAA-21 VIIRS TEBs have been performing well in general. Blackbody (OBCBB) and other instrument temperatures are stable during nominal operations, with a mean value of 27 mK. A mid-mission outgassing (MMOG) was performed on February 23, 2023 to remove potential ice contamination. CFPA temperatures were switch 82 K to 80 K on March 3, 2023 to further enhance the performance. After these two events, NOAA-21 VIIRS long-wave infrared (LWIR, I5 and M14-M16) detector responsivities have remained generally stable. Mid-wave infrared (MWIR, I4 and M12-M13) bands have been degrading again since mid-March 2023, with degradations more than 4% for some M12 and I4 detectors by mid-July 2023. NOAA-21 TEB Noise Equivalent Differential Temperatures (NEdT) are well within specifications. Prelaunch calibration offset, nonlinearity, and response versus scan were verified using on-orbit OBCBB warm-up/cool-down (WUCD) and spacecraft pitch maneuver data. TEB SDR calibration biases and improvements in the NOAA operational Sensor Data Records (SDR) were evaluated by inter-comparison of VIIRS with co-located CrIS observations. The impacts of MWIR degradations on NEdTs and TEB SDRs are negligible so far.

Conference Presentation

(2023) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

Wenhui Wang, Slawomir Blonski, and Taeyoung Choi "Evaluation of NOAA-21 VIIRS thermal emissive bands early on-orbit calibration performance", Proc. SPIE 12685, Earth Observing Systems XXVIII, 1268511 (4 October 2023); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2676084

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