On-orbit radiometric performance characterization of S-NPP VIIRS reflective solar bands

Abstract

It has been nearly four years that the S-NPP was launched. In an effort to improve the VIIRS calibration, VIIRS has undergone a number of major look up table updates during this period. RSB bands such as M1 through M3 suggested higher solar diffuser degradation rate. Similarly, for higher wavelengths, even though the solar diffuser degradation is much smaller and even negligible for SWIR bands, bands such as M7 suffer from major degradation due to RTA throughput degradation. Even though the solar diffuser and mirror degradation is well characterized, the data quality needs to be independently validated to ensure that data are well within the specification. We have used on-orbit calibration/validation techniques such as extended SNOs to estimate the bias of these bands and quantify the radiometric performance since launch. Assuming MODIS as a standard reference, intercomparison was performed to analyze the VIIRS radiometric performance. It was observed that some of the VIIRS bands such as M5 and M7 suggest bias on the order of 1.5% or more for most of the time period since early launch. VIIRS bias trends keep changing over time which can be mainly correlated to calibration updates and instrument anomalies. Results on VIIRS on-orbit calibration performance and its bias since early launch will be presented during meeting to help users better understand the data quality and its impacts on broader scientific research and applications.