Advancing the Integrated Calibration and Validation System (ICVS) for Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)

The NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Integrated Calibration/Validation System (ICVS) provides valuable routine monitoring of the JPSS spacecraft and instrument health, and data quality of sensor data record (SDR) products of multiple sensors, including Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). Focusing on the latest development and new features, we introduce the state-of-art operational functions and capabilities of the ICVS-VIIRS system. The system consists of the following major modules: 1) Raw Data Record (RDR) Sync-Loss; 2) On-Board Calibrator Intermediate Product (OBCIP) Performance; 3) RGB/SDR Imaging; 4) SDR and Geolocation Quality; 5) H and F Factors Module; 6) Sensor Intercomparison; and 7) SDR bias evaluation. To facilitate the VIIRS SDR calibration and validation efforts, multi-sensor intercomparison, including comparison of VIIRS SDR observations to concurrent polar or geostationary observations, is also integrated into the ICVS-VIIRS system. Simulations from Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) are compared to the observations for VIIRS SDR bias assessment. Consistency and discrepancy between Suomi-NPP (S-NPP) and NOAA-20 VIIRS SDR products are presented in terms of long term SDR data quality monitoring. The double difference (DD) between the S-NPP and NOAA-20 VIIRS are calculated by using the CRTM simulation and the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) as a transfer respectively. The routine anomaly monitoring capability of the system is highlighted with successful anomaly detection and alert cases. With frequent updates of hundreds monitored parameters each day, the operational ICVS-VIIRS system provides valuable VIIRS SDR related information for JPSS Program Office, SDR and Environmental Data Record (EDR) science teams, and other operational centers and research communities. We also appreciate the opportunity to collect user feedback and comments for further improvements of the ICVS-VIIRS system.