Philip E. Ardanuy

Achieving satellite instrument calibration for climate change

For the most part, satellite observations of climate are not presently sufficiently accurate to establish a climate record that is indisputable and hence capable of determining whether and at what rate the climate is changing. Furthermore, they are insufficient for establishing a baseline for testing long-term trend predictions of climate models. Satellite observations do provide a clear picture of the relatively large signals associated with interannual climate variations such as El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and they have also been used to diagnose gross inadequacies of climate models, such as their cloud generation schemes. However, satellite contributions to measuring long-term change have been limited and, at times, controversial, as in the case of differing atmospheric temperature trends derived from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) microwave radiometers.

NPOESS VIIRS sensor design overview

A new era in remote sensing will begin with the launch of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environment Satellite Systems (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) spacecraft in 2005, and the multiple operational NPOESS launches in sun-synchronous orbital planes (nominally 13:30, 17:30, or 21:30 local equatorial crossing times) starting in 2008. Users of polar-orbiting environmental satellite data will see a profound improvement in the radiometric quality, spectral coverage, and spatial resolution of routinely available visible and infrared data relative to current operational civilian and military polar-orbiting systems. The improved data will be provided by the NPOESS Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). VIIRS will provide Environmental Data Records (EDRs) to meet civilian and national defense operational requirements, including day and night cloud imagery, sea surface temperatures (SST), and ocean color. EDRs will be produced by ground processing of raw data records (RDRS) from the VIIRS sensor. VIIRS will replace three currently operating sensors: the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Line- scanning System (OLS), the NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), and the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS Terra and Aqua) MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). This paper describes the VIIRS all-reflective 22-band single-sensor design. VIIRS provides low noise (driven by ocean color for the reflective visible and near-IR spectral bands and by SST for the emissive mid and long-wave IR spectral), excellent calibration and stability (driven by aerosol, cloud, and SST), broad spectral coverage, and fine spatial resolution driven by the imagery EDR. In addition to improved radiometric, spectral, and spatial performance, VIIRS features DMSP OLS-like near- constant resolution, global twice-daily coverage in each orbit plane, and direct heritage to proven design innovations from the successful Sea-viewing Wide Field-of- view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and Earth Observing System (Terra) MODIS.

NPOESS VIIRS design process

This paper presents an overview of the Visible and Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) design process that achieved exceptional competitive IPO ratings for system optimization, sensor system design, and systems engineering, integration and test (SEIT). A novel aspect of the competition was provision to the sensor competitors of a specification of geophysical measurement requirements called Environmental Data Records (EDRs), rather than a sensor hardware specification. The contractors were required to derive optimal VIIRS hardware specifications from the EDRs and Raytheons process is the subject of this paper. VIIRS will become the next-generation United States polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (MPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) spacecraft. Beginning in 2008, the NPOESS VIIRS instrument will be launched into 1370, 1730, and 2130 local-time ascending-node sun-synchronous polar orbits as the single operational source for dozens of civil and defense environmental and weather products, as well as climate research data. VIIRS will replace three different currently operating sensors: the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Line-scan System (OLS), the NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), and the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS Terra and Aqua) MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). A critical VIIRS challenge was design optimization to differing requirements from the three user agencies (DoD, NOAA, and NASA) represented by the NPOESS Integrated Program Office.

Remote Sensing from Satellites

In 1858, less than two decades after the invention of daguerrotype photography, a photograph of Paris was taken from a balloon. This event is generally recognized as the first demonstration of “remote sensing.” The use of aerial photography was attempted soon afterward during the Civil War in the United States, and this effort demonstrated that balloons were both useful observational platforms and easily recognizable targets. Photographs from balloons at higher altitude, kites, airplanes, and even pigeons were acquired in subsequent years, with an emphasis on military applications, particularly during the two world wars. The idea of photographing the earth from space, however, was apparently first described for nonmilitary applications by Dr. Harry Wexler at a symposium held at the Hayden Planetarium in New York in 1954. Dr. Wexler included a sketch of what a satellite camera 4000 miles over Texas might observe. In 1957 (the International Geophysical Year), President Dwight Eisenhower announced Project Vanguard, which would orbit several earth-observing satellites. Although numerous Vanguard launches failed, Vanguard 2, launched on February 17, 1959, carried a cloud-cover observation experiment, but satellite wobble prevented the acquisition of useful imagery. The first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, which launched on January 31, 1958, carried Geiger counters provided by Dr. James Van Allen. The Geiger counter data indicated the existence of the Van Allen radiation belts, the first geophysical discovery made by satellites. Vanguard mission SLV-6, launched on June 22, 1959, carried a radiation balance experiment created by Verner Suomi, but the mission failed to reach orbit. However, Explorer VII, launched on October 13, 1959, carried a similar experiment, and this mission provided the first measurement of the solar constant and the first longwave radiation budget map of the earth.

NPOESS VIIRS: next-generation polar-orbiting atmospheric imager

A new era in atmospheric remote sensing will begin with the launch of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) spacecraft in 2006, and the multiple operational NPOESS launches in sun-synchronous orbital planes (nominally 13:30, 17:30, or 21:30 local equatorial crossing times) starting in 2009. Cloud and atmosphere polar-orbiting environmental satellite data will be profoundly improved in radiometric quality, spectral coverage, and spatial resolution relative to current operational civilian and military polar-orbiting systems. The NPOESS Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) will provide Environmental Data Records (EDRs) for day and night atmosphere and cloud operational requirements, as well as sea surface temperature (SST) and many important land EDRs by ground processing of raw data records (RDRs) from the VIIRS sensor. VIIRS will replace three currently operating sensors: the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Line-scanning System (OLS), the NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), and the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS Terra and Aqua) MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). This paper describes the VIIRS all-reflective 22-band single-sensor design, following the Critical Design Review (CDR) in Spring 2002. VIIRS provides low noise (driven by ocean color for the reflective visible and near-IR spectral bands and by SST for the emissive mid and long-wave IR spectral bands), excellent calibration and stability (driven by atmospheric aerosol and cloud EDRs, as well as SST), broad spectral coverage, and fine spatial resolution driven by the cloud imagery EDR. In addition to improved radiometric, spectral, and spatial performance, VIIRS features DMSP OLS-like near-constant resolution, global twice-daily coverage in each orbit plane, and direct heritage to proven design innovations from the successful Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and Earth Observing System (Terra and Aqua) MODIS.

System engineering of the visible infrared imaging radiometer suite (VIIRS): improvements in imaging radiometry enabled by innovation driven by requirements

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is the new US operational environmental imaging spectroradiometer in polar orbit. The first VIIRS flight unit onboard Suomi NPP has been providing high-quality visible/infrared Earth observations since 2011. VIIRS provides an unprecedented combination of higher spatial resolution data across a wider area and more complete spectral coverage with onboard calibration than legacy instruments including AVHRR developed in the 1970s for NOAA, OLS developed in the 1970s for US DoD, MODIS developed in the 1990s for the NASA Terra and Aqua satellites and SeaWiFS developed for the commercial SeaStar system in the 1990s. A highly sensitive low light level day/night band (DNB) in VIIRS is improving weather forecasting around the world and providing new ways to observe the Earth from space. VIIRS replaces four legacy sensors with a single instrument enabled by innovations that were driven by requirements defined by NPOESS in the late 1990s. This paper highlights innovations developed by the VIIRS design team in response to challenging driving NPOESS requirements that resulted in remarkable improvements in operational remote sensing.

Front Matter: Volume 8516

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Front Matter: Volume 7458

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Front Matter: Volume 7087

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Net-centric environmental and weather monitoring: a disruptive concept of operations

In this paper we review the concept of network centricity, and relate it to the evolution that is anticipated in weather and environmental operational remote sensing in the decade ahead. We provide a practical roadmap for implementing concepts that recognize the value of legacy systems, accounting for a spectrum of different interoperability potentials of legacy and future systems, from the perspective of three communities and five levels of integration.