Land and Cryosphere Products from Suomi NPP VIIRS: Overview and Status
Abstract
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument was launched in October 2011 as part of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP). The VIIRS instrument was designed to improve upon the capabilities of the operational Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and provide observation continuity with NASA's Earth Observing System's (EOS) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Since the VIIRS first-light images were received in November 2011, NASA and NOAA funded scientists have been working to evaluate the instrument performance and generate land and cryosphere products which would meet the needs of the NOAA operational users and the NASA science community. NOAA's focus has been on refining a suite of operational products known as Environmental Data Records (EDRs), which were developed according to project specifications under the National Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). The NASA S-NPP Science Team has focused on evaluating the EDRs for science use and developing and testing additional products to meet science data needs and provide MODIS data product continuity. This paper will present the findings to-date of the NASA Science Team's evaluation of the VIIRS Land and Cryosphere EDRs, specifically Surface Reflectance, Land Surface Temperature, Surface Albedo, Vegetation Indices, Surface Type, Active Fires, Snow Cover, Ice Surface Temperature, and Sea Ice Characterization. To achieve the stated goal of MODIS data continuity and the establishment of long-term data records through VIIRS, it is important to start now to use S-NPP to establish a pathway to science use of VIIRS data in the JPSS era. One year after launch, initial instrument and operational product evaluations are now ending and the next step is to build on the success of the MODIS Adaptive Processing System (MODAPS) and the Land Product Evaluation and Analysis Tool Element (PEATE) data processing and generate and distribute high-quality VIIRS land and cryosphere products from the beginning of the VIIRS data record and with the capability of subsequent reprocessing, to meet the needs of the land science and applications communities.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.B33M..04R
- Keywords:
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- 0480 BIOGEOSCIENCES Remote sensing;
- 0758 CRYOSPHERE Remote sensing;
- 0434 BIOGEOSCIENCES Data sets;
- 0429 BIOGEOSCIENCES Climate dynamics