Radiometrically Accurate Hyperspectral Measurements for Benchmarking and Inter-Calibration
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Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Constantine Lukashin.
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The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Pathfinder (CPF) mission consists of a high accuracy reflected solar spectrometer that will take measurements from the International Space Station for one year starting in 2023. CPF will demonstrate that its novel on-orbit absolute calibration approaches are capable of achieving 0.3% (1-sigma) radiometric uncertainty. Additionally, using its two-axis pointing gimbal which enables nearly-concurrent measurements matching look angles with other orbiting sensors, CPF will demonstrate a novel inter-calibration approach by inter-calibrating CERES and VIIRS. CPF is currently in its Final Design and Fabrication Stage and recently passed its Critical Design Review.
Detecting and improving the scientific understanding of global trends in complex Earth systems, such as climate, increasingly depends on assimilating datasets from multiple instruments and platforms over decadal timescales. Calibration accuracy, stability, and inter-consistency among different instruments are key to developing reliable composite data records from sensors in low Earth and geostationary orbits, but achieving sufficiently low uncertainties for these performance metrics poses a significant challenge. Space-borne instruments commonly carry on-board references for calibration at various wavelengths, but these increase mass and mission complexity, and are subject to degradation in the space environment. The Moon can be considered a natural solar diffuser which can be observed as a calibration target by most spaceborne Earth-observing instruments. Since the lunar surface reflectance is effectively time-invariant, establishing the Moon as a high-accuracy calibration reference enables broad inter-calibration opportunities even between temporally non-overlapping instruments and provides an exo-atmospheric absolute radiometric standard. The ARCSTONE mission goal is to establish the Moon as a reliable reference for high-accuracy on-orbit calibration in the visible and near-infrared spectral region. The ARCSTONE instrument is a compact spectrometer, which will be packaged on a CubeSat intended for low Earth orbit. It will measure the lunar spectral reflectance with accuracy < 0.5% (k=1), sufficient to establish an SI-traceable absolute lunar calibration standard when referenced to the spectral solar irradiance across the 350 to 2300 nm spectral range. This lunar reference will help to enable high-accuracy absolute calibration and inter-calibration of past, current, and future Earth-observing sensors, meteorological imagers, and long-term climate monitoring satellite systems. The ARCSTONE team will present the development status of a full-spectral-range (FSR) instrument, the intended approach to calibration and characterization, and the planned path toward mission implementation.
The primary objective of the CLARREO Pathfinder (CPF) mission is to demonstrate essential measurement technologies to enable highly accurate decadal change observations traceable on-orbit to SI standards. Another important objective of the CPF is to demonstrate inter-calibration with the VIIRS sensor and to show that such high-accuracy reference inter-calibration is achievable. To satisfy this requirement, it is important to understand and quantify uncertainties in VIIRS sensor measurements. Based on prelaunch test results, the reflective solar bands of both SNPP and NOAA-20 VIIRS have exhibited polarization sensitivities in the shortest wavelength bands, with an unexpectedly larger sensitivity observed for NOAA-20 VIIRS, particularly in bands M1 to M4. In this study, we use VIIRS Level-1B reflectance data collected over the Pseudo-Invariant Calibration Sites over North African desert region to examine the polarization associated uncertainty for these four bands. Impact due to BRDF on the reflectance data is considered by comparing baseline results obtained from the same viewing and solar zenith angles under relatively low polarization sensitivity. Impact due to detector relative difference in polarization sensitivity is examined by normalizing reflectances by the value of the middle detector. Results of this study provide useful information on VIIRS uncertainty contribution due to polarization when conducting CPF and VIIRS inter-calibration.
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Highly accurate measurements of Earth's thermal infrared and reflected solar radiation are required for detecting and predicting long-term climate change. Consideration is given to the concept of using the International Space Station to test instruments and techniques that would eventually be used on a dedicated mission, such as the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO). In particular, a quantitative investigation is performed to determine whether it is possible to use measurements obtained with a highly accurate (0.3%,with 95%confidence) reflected solar radiation spectrometer to calibrate similar, less accurate instruments in other low Earth orbits. Estimates of numbers of samples useful for intercalibration are made with the aid of yearlong simulations of orbital motion. Results of this study support the conclusion that the International Space Station orbit is ideally suited for the purpose of intercalibration between spaceborne sensors.
The motivation for this study is to develop a Machine learning methodology for the determination of CERES clear-sky scenes and the estimation of clear-sky TOA fluxes from CERES-TOA radiance measurements without using any imager information.
Higher than normal accuracy is required to rigorously observe decadal climate change. But what level is needed? How can this be quantified? This presentation will summarize a new more rigorous and quantitative approach to determining the required accuracy for climate change observations (Wielicki et al., 2013, BAMS). Most current global satellite observations cannot meet this accuracy level. A proposed new satellite mission to resolve this challenge is CLARREO (Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory). CLARREO is designed to achieve advances of a factor of 10 for reflected solar spectra and a factor of 3 to 5 for thermal infrared spectra (Wielicki et al., Oct. 2013 BAMS). The CLARREO spectrometers are designed to serve as SI traceable benchmarks for the Global Satellite Intercalibration System (GSICS) and to greatly improve the utility of a wide range of LEO and GEO infrared and reflected solar passive satellite sensors for climate change observations (e.g. CERES, MODIS, VIIIRS, CrIS, IASI, Landsat, SPOT, etc). Providing more accurate decadal change trends can in turn lead to more rapid narrowing of key climate science uncertainties such as cloud feedback and climate sensitivity. A study has been carried out to quantify the economic benefits of such an advance as part of a rigorous and complete climate observing system. The study concludes that the economic value is ~ $12 Trillion U.S. dollars in Net Present Value for a nominal discount rate of 3% (Cooke et al. 2013, J. Env. Sys. Dec.). A brief summary of these two studies and their implications for the future of climate science will be presented.
Objective - It is observed that 5.6% of all CERES Terra/Aqua data contains missing cloud cover information or insufficient imager data for a reliable scene identification (some times it can reach up to 50% of data for a specific scene type) - The unavailability of imager data lead to gaps in global radiation budget dataset. - In this study, our objective is to develop a Machine learning methodology for the improved determination of CERES scene type and subsequent clear-sky TOA flux estimation using standalone CERES TOA radiance measurements (without any MODIS/Imager data).
CLARREO Pathfinder is a hyperspectral instrument designed to resolve reflectance of solar radiation from Earth in the wavelength range of 350 nm to 2300 nm with an uncertainty of 0.3% (k=2) or less. Its success will demonstrate CLARREO’s ability to provide on-orbit SI-Traceable calibration of measured spectral reflectance with an advanced accuracy. The CLARREO pathfinder simulator has been developed to generate high-fidelity inter-calibration event data products that can be used for pre-launch inter-calibration algorithm study. A high-fidelity simulation for CLARREO inter-calibration events includes computationally intensive radiative transfer calculations for observations within each individual collocation footprint. A principal component based radiative transfer model is incorporated in the simulator to enable an ultra-fast forward simulation, ensuring a low latency data processing for month- to year-long intercalibration events. This paper introduces the design and development of the CLARREO pathfinder simulator and some of its applications for inter-calibration matching error evaluation.
The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Pathfinder (CPF) mission consists of a high accuracy reflected solar spectrometer that will take measurements from the International Space Station for one year starting in 2023. CPF will demonstrate that its novel on-orbit absolute calibration approaches are capable of achieving 0.3% (1-sigma) radiometric uncertainty. Additionally, using its two-axis pointing gimbal which enables nearly-concurrent measurements matching look angles with other orbiting sensors, CPF will demonstrate a novel inter-calibration approach by inter-calibrating CERES and VIIRS. CPF is currently in its Final Design and Fabrication Stage and recently passed its Critical Design Review.
The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Pathfinder (CPF) mission consists of a high accuracy reflected solar spectrometer that will take measurements from the International Space Station for one year starting in 2023. CPF will demonstrate that its novel on-orbit absolute calibration approaches are capable of achieving 0.3% (1-sigma) radiometric uncertainty. Additionally, using its two-axis pointing gimbal which enables nearly-concurrent measurements matching look angles with other orbiting sensors, CPF will demonstrate a novel inter-calibration approach by inter-calibrating CERES and VIIRS. CPF is currently in its Final Design and Fabrication Stage and recently passed its Critical Design Review.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.