The Reprocessed Suomi NPP Satellite Observations

Cheng-Zhi Zou; Lihang Zhou; Lin Lin; Ninghai Sun; Yong Chen; Lawrence E. Flynn; Bin Zhang; Changyong Cao; Flavio Iturbide-Sanchez; Trevor Beck; Banghua Yan; Satya Kalluri; Yan Bai; Slawomir Blonski; Taeyoung Choi; Murty Divakarla; Yalong Gu; Xianjun Hao; Wei Li; Ding Liang; Jianguo Niu; Xi Shao; Larrabee Strow; David C. Tobin; Denis Tremblay; Sirish Uprety; Wenhui Wang; Hui Xu; Hu Yang; Mitchell D. Goldberg

doi:10.3390/rs12182891

Remote Sensing (Sep 2020)

The Reprocessed Suomi NPP Satellite Observations

Cheng-Zhi Zou,
Lihang Zhou,
Lin Lin,
Ninghai Sun,
Yong Chen,
Lawrence E. Flynn,
Bin Zhang,
Changyong Cao,
Flavio Iturbide-Sanchez,
Trevor Beck,
Banghua Yan,
Satya Kalluri,
Yan Bai,
Slawomir Blonski,
Taeyoung Choi,
Murty Divakarla,
Yalong Gu,
Xianjun Hao,
Wei Li,
Ding Liang,
Jianguo Niu,
Xi Shao,
Larrabee Strow,
David C. Tobin,
Denis Tremblay,
Sirish Uprety,
Wenhui Wang,
Hui Xu,
Hu Yang,
Mitchell D. Goldberg

Affiliations

Cheng-Zhi Zou: Center for Satellite Applications and Research, NOAA/NESDIS, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Lihang Zhou: Joint Polar Satellite System, NOAA/NESDIS, Lanham, MD 20706, USA
Lin Lin: ESSIC/CISESS, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Ninghai Sun: Global Science and Technology, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Yong Chen: Global Science and Technology, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Lawrence E. Flynn: Center for Satellite Applications and Research, NOAA/NESDIS, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Bin Zhang: ESSIC/CISESS, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Changyong Cao: Center for Satellite Applications and Research, NOAA/NESDIS, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Flavio Iturbide-Sanchez: Center for Satellite Applications and Research, NOAA/NESDIS, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Trevor Beck: Center for Satellite Applications and Research, NOAA/NESDIS, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Banghua Yan: Center for Satellite Applications and Research, NOAA/NESDIS, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Satya Kalluri: Center for Satellite Applications and Research, NOAA/NESDIS, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Yan Bai: ESSIC/CISESS, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Slawomir Blonski: Global Science and Technology, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Taeyoung Choi: Global Science and Technology, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Murty Divakarla: I. M. Systems Group, Inc., College Park, MD 20740, USA
Yalong Gu: Global Science and Technology, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Xianjun Hao: Global Environment and Natural Resources Institute/Environmental Science and Technology Center, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
Wei Li: ESSIC/CISESS, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Ding Liang: Global Science and Technology, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Jianguo Niu: I. M. Systems Group, Inc., College Park, MD 20740, USA
Xi Shao: ESSIC/CISESS, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Larrabee Strow: Department of Physics, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA
David C. Tobin: Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53715, USA
Denis Tremblay: Global Science and Technology, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Sirish Uprety: ESSIC/CISESS, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Wenhui Wang: ESSIC/CISESS, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Hui Xu: ESSIC/CISESS, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Hu Yang: ESSIC/CISESS, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Mitchell D. Goldberg: Joint Polar Satellite System, NOAA/NESDIS, Lanham, MD 20706, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12182891
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 12, no. 18
p. 2891

Abstract

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The launch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) and its follow-on NOAA Joint Polar Satellite Systems (JPSS) satellites marks the beginning of a new era of operational satellite observations of the Earth and atmosphere for environmental applications with high spatial resolution and sampling rate. The S-NPP and JPSS are equipped with five instruments, each with advanced design in Earth sampling, including the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS), the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), and the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES). Among them, the ATMS is the new generation of microwave sounder measuring temperature profiles from the surface to the upper stratosphere and moisture profiles from the surface to the upper troposphere, while CrIS is the first of a series of advanced operational hyperspectral sounders providing more accurate atmospheric and moisture sounding observations with higher vertical resolution for weather and climate applications. The OMPS instrument measures solar backscattered ultraviolet to provide information on the concentrations of ozone in the Earth’s atmosphere, and VIIRS provides global observations of a variety of essential environmental variables over the land, atmosphere, cryosphere, and ocean with visible and infrared imagery. The CERES instrument measures the solar energy reflected by the Earth, the longwave radiative emission from the Earth, and the role of cloud processes in the Earth’s energy balance. Presently, observations from several instruments on S-NPP and JPSS-1 (re-named NOAA-20 after launch) provide near real-time monitoring of the environmental changes and improve weather forecasting by assimilation into numerical weather prediction models. Envisioning the need for consistencies in satellite retrievals, improving climate reanalyses, development of climate data records, and improving numerical weather forecasting, the NOAA/Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) has been reprocessing the S-NPP observations for ATMS, CrIS, OMPS, and VIIRS through their life cycle. This article provides a summary of the instrument observing principles, data characteristics, reprocessing approaches, calibration algorithms, and validation results of the reprocessed sensor data records. The reprocessing generated consistent Level-1 sensor data records using unified and consistent calibration algorithms for each instrument that removed artificial jumps in data owing to operational changes, instrument anomalies, contaminations by anomaly views of the environment or spacecraft, and other causes. The reprocessed sensor data records were compared with and validated against other observations for a consistency check whenever such data were available. The reprocessed data will be archived in the NOAA data center with the same format as the operational data and technical support for data requests. Such a reprocessing is expected to improve the efficiency of the use of the S-NPP and JPSS satellite data and the accuracy of the observed essential environmental variables through either consistent satellite retrievals or use of the reprocessed data in numerical data assimilations.

Published in Remote Sensing

ISSN: 2072-4292 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Science
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing/

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