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Development Of The Moon As An Absolute Si-Traceable Celestial Calibration Target To Support Earth Remote Sensing Instrument Measurement Requirements, Steve Brown, John Woodward, Kevin Turpie, Andrew Gadsden, Tom Stone

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

To support measurements relevant to climate observables, emphasis has been placed on the development of space-based Climate Observatories, e.g. CLARREO Pathfinder (CPF), that can maintain SI-traceability on-orbit with uncertainties that meet observation requirements. The transfer of radiometric scales from Climate Observatories to the suite of sensors on-orbit at any given time anticipates using Simultaneous Nadir Overpasses (SNOs) of terrestrial calibration targets, requiring a continuous train of Climate Observatories be maintained on-orbit. The cost and complexity of Climate Observatories warrants examination of alternate approaches to the in situ calibration of climate sensors.

The uncertainties in the transmittance through the atmosphere is …

Noaa-20 Viirs Day Night Band (Dnb) Radiometric Calibration Using Solar Diffuser And Lunar Observations, Taeyoung Choi, Changyong Cao, Xi Shao

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

On-board radiometric calibration of Day Night Band (DNB) on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 20 Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is based on the Solar Diffuser (SD) observations in the Low Gain Stage (LGS). DNB is a unique panchromatic band which has a broad spectral response covering a wavelength range roughly from 500 nm to 900 nm with over 7 orders of magnitude in radiometric dynamic range. To cover such a wide dynamic range, DNB has High Gain Stage (HGS), Middle Gain Stage (MGS), and LGS in the sensor design. The radiometric calibration of DNB MGS and …

Extending The Spectral Range Of The Robotic Lunar Observatory (Rolo) Model To Climate Science-Relevant Wavelengths, Cindy L. Young, Thomas Stone, Janet Daniels, Martin Snow, Roger Clark, Jean-Pierre Williams

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

A critical aspect of monitoring and understanding climate change is maintaining a continuous Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) record. The radiation budget is the balance between absorbed solar radiation and emitted thermal IR radiation by the Earth-atmosphere system, and ERB sensors require shortwave (SW) broadband measurements from 0.2 – 5 μm. Calibration accuracy, stability, and inter-consistency among different instruments are key to developing reliable composite long-term data records, but achieving sufficiently low uncertainties for these performance metrics poses a significant challenge. For this purpose, space-borne instruments commonly carry on-board references for calibration at various wavelengths, but these increase mass and mission …

Arcstone: Calibration Of Lunar Spectral Reflectance From Space Esto Invest (Update), Constantine Lukashin, G. Kopp, Trevor Jackson, R. Swanson, C. Buleri, C. L. Young, M. Gorman, M. Zeigler, T. Stone

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

Detecting and improving the scientific understanding of global trends in complex Earth systems, such as climate, increasingly depend 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, however, 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 …

Addressing Needs To Achieve High-Accuracy Lunar Calibration, Thomas C. Stone

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

Established techniques that use the reflected light from the Moon for sensor radiometric calibration typically utilize the spatially integrated quantity of lunar spectral irradiance. The USGS ROLO model (and its replicated variants) has seen widespread use as the reference for lunar calibration since its development in the early 2000s. Although absolute scale uncertainties persist in the current ROLO model version, a predictive model for lunar spectral irradiance potentially can achieve tenths-percent uncertainty or better, with SI traceability. This would enable a number of important capabilities for on-orbit calibration of Earth observing sensors. To advance development toward a high-accuracy lunar calibration …

Decadal Validation Of The Lasp Trf Radiometer By Nist And Establishment Of A Replacement Room Temperature Standard, Malcolm White, Nathan Tomlin, Chris Yung, Michelle Stephens, Ping-Shine Shaw, Joe Rice, John Lehman, Karl Heuerman, Joel Rutkowski, Cameron Straatsma, Peter Pilewskie, Erik Richard, Dave Harber

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

We present the results of a recent, extensive measurement campaign validating the traceability of the solar irradiance record and earth radiation budget data. The campaign also established future traceability, thus ensuring confidence in the continuing climate-data record. The Total Solar Irradiance Radiometer Facility (TRF) at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) Boulder, uses a liquid helium cooled cryogenic radiometer as the reference standard for the validation of spaceflight total solar irradiance instrumentation. In 2008 the radiometer was directly compared to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Primary Optical Watt Radiometer (POWR) at a wavelength of 532.12 …

Strengthening The Radiometric Link To The Si: Achievements From The Chipscale Project, Marit Ulset Nordsveen, Jarle Gran

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

The EURAMET European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) project chipS·CALe aims to improve and simplify radiometric traceability with a focus on strengthening the link between radiometric measurements and the international system of units (SI). In this project, several national metrology institutes (NMIs) and research institutions in Europe have collaborated to develop improved low-loss Predictable Quantum Efficient Detector (PQED) photodiodes with an external quantum deficiency in the 10 ppm range or below from 400 nm to 850 nm.

These induced-junction photodiodes are simple in their structure, making them suitable for 3D computer simulations. In a 2 minute animation video …

Vicarious Calibration Of Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 And 3, Dejian Fu, Robert Rosenberg, Carol Bruegge, Thomas Pongetti, Richard Lee, James Mcduffie, Linley Kroll, Mark Helmlinger, Gary Spiers, David Crisp, Annmarie Eldering

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 and 3 (OCO-2 and OCO-3) instruments, launched in 2014 and 2019 respectively, employ multiple methodologies to refine the absolute radiometric scale. One technique, vicarious calibration, uses in-situ measurements taken at Railroad Valley, USA (RRV), along with near simultaneous measurements (within 0.5 hours) from the satellite instruments. The JPL field team has conducted measurement campaigns near every summer solstice since 2009 along with colleagues from the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) project, JAXA/NIES. Since 2012, additional ground datasets have been collected in the spring and fall to support additional targets acquired throughout the year. The RRV …

The Ground To Space Calibration Experiment (G-Scale): Si-Traceable Intercalibration Of Multiscale Earth Observation Platforms Using Mirror-Based Targets, Brandon J. Russell, Raymond Soffer, Emmett J. Ientilluci, Michele A. Kuester, David Conran, Juan Pablo Arroyo-Mora, Tina Ochoa, Chris Durell, Jeff Holt

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

In order to deliver high quality, traceable, multi-sensor optical Earth Observation measurements and fused data products, there is a need for common reference sources and dedicated intercalibration and bias assessment activities. The goal of the Ground to Space CALibration Experiment (G-SCALE) was to demonstrate the use of convex mirrors as a radiometric and spatial calibration and validation (cal/val) technology for Earth Observation (EO) assets operating at multiple altitudes and spatial scales. Specifically, to generate a point source with NIST-traceable absolute radiance signal for simultaneous vicarious calibration of multi- and hyperspectral sensors in the VNIR/SWIR range, aboard Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), …

Monitoring Sentinel-2 Msi Inter-Calibration Using Deep Convective Clouds, S. Clerc, N. Lamquin, F. Romand, A. Deru

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

The Deep Convective Cloud (DCC) method is an efficient method to estimate the relative radiometric uncertainty of Earth Observation sensors. The method has been used to monitor the inter-satellite relative uncertainty of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 constellation.

The data selection process relies on thresholds on the NIR (B08) and cirrus (B10) bands on data acquired in the intertropical region. More than 1000 products for each satellite are processed each month. Histograms of the reflectance values are extracted for all spectral bands and each detector module. Once enough products are collected, a skewed- Gaussian is fit to the accumulated histogram. The second …

Integrating On-Board And Vicarious Calibration With The Improved Radiometric Calibration Of Land Imaging Systems (Iris), Stephen J. Schiller, Jeffery J. Puschell

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

As part of Raytheon’s effort to provide innovative calibration capabilities that advance the performance of future earth imaging systems, an on-board Jones source calibrator integrated with vicarious SPecular ARray Calibration (SPARC) is introduced. The Improved Radiometric calibration of land Imaging Systems (IRIS) is a compact full-spectrum calibration system that reduces the size, weight, and power of conventional on-board radiometric sources into a single flat panel format providing high spatial illumination uniformity. Combining both carbon nanotube and LED technology within a Jones source design, IRIS offers a common assembly calibration reference covering the spectral range from 0.4 to 12 μm. On-board …

Earthdaily Analytics - Delivering Scientific Imagery Of Our Planet For A Sustainable Future, Keith Beckett, Paul Cottle, Chris Rampersad, Rob Irwin

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

The EarthDaily Analytics team is actively building a constellation of highly innovative satellites, capable of covering the earth’s landmass every day with a novel set of spectral channels selected to serve a wide range of applications. This new data will flow through our EarthPipeline, a completely automated Ground Segment-as-a-Service offering, capable of processing, calibrating and validating not only the data from EarthDaily Analytics’ constellation but data from multiple partners’s constellations as well.

We know that nearly every application targeted by EarthDaily Analytics, agriculture, forestry, water and many more, will all benefit greatly from the science-grade imagery and analytics that the …

Adaptive Calibration Of Cubesat Radiometer Constellations, John Bradburn, Mustafa Aksoy

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

“Adaptive Calibration of CubeSat Radiometer Constellations” (ACCURACy) is a novel, constellation-level calibration framework developed to address the challenges in calibrating constellations of CubeSat radiometers. CubeSats are smaller than conventional monolithic systems, and so while cheaper and easier to develop and deploy, a lack of sufficient radiation shielding and thermal mass results in gain fluctuations due to the increased sensitivity to ambient conditions. Weight, cost, and power requirements also mean that CubeSats need to rely on vicarious calibration measurements, rather than external blackbody references, which cannot be collected frequently. ACCURACy is a multi-module framework which uses onboard telemetry data to cluster …

Venμs Mission Evolutions And Radiometric Performances During Vm5 In-Orbit Test Phase, A. Dick, G. Dedieu, O. Hagolle, J-L. Raynaud, S. Pelou, M. Farges, C. Peschoud

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

VENμS (Vegetation and Environment New micro (μ) Satellite) is a micro satellite launched in 2017 by the Israeli Space Agency (ISA) and the French Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES). VENμS is a research satellite that embarks two very different devices, an electric Hall Effect thruster, and a multispectral optical camera. This article focuses on the multispectral camera.

Since March 2022, VENμS has begun the final phase of its mission called VM5. At the beginning of this project, it had been planned to divide the mission in 3 phases specially to use the small thrusters, which are dedicated to a technological …

Brdf Measurements Using A Large-Area Uniform Illumination Scatterometer (Luis) In Support Of Nasa Remote Sensing Programs, Jinan Zeng, James J. Butler, Xiaoxiong Xiong

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

There are two newly developed scatterometers at the Diffuser Calibration Lab (DCL) NASA GSFC. One of them is a laser/lamp-based table-top scatterometer (TTS) covering the spectral range from 300 nm to 2300 nm with a relative small beam size of 5 to 10 mm in diameter. The spatial non-uniformity of BRDF is requested when a large diffuse sample is measured on TTS. In order to test the BRDF along with spatial non-uniformity, a Large-area Uniform Illumination Scatterometer (LUIS) was built to meet the requirements for different large samples, especially volume diffuse samples. The LUIS system at NASA GSFC is capable …

Small Sat Calibration, Cole Miller, Deron Scott, Eli Salay, Shane Canfield, Scott Hansen, Matt Berghout, Jan Kunzler, Duane Miles

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

Payloads used to make science measurements need calibration to characterize the instrument and ensure that mission objectives are met. When electro-optic instruments are developed for use on small satellite platforms, budgets and schedules are often restricted. There is a need to provide some calibration and still remain within budget. The goal of this project was to develop a calibration method to meet this challenge for small satellites. The effort includes spatial, spectral, and radiometric testing and characterization of small satellite payloads. Using a combination of sources, visible wavelength small satellite payloads can be calibrated cheaply and quickly. The calibration parameters …

An Overview Of The Emerging P4001 Hyperspectral Standard, Christopher Durell, Torbjorn Skauli, John R. Gilchrist

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

Hyperspectral imaging has over the last thirty years developed into a power analytical tool for the determination of chemical and other properties. As a result, there has been strong development in both the design of spectral cameras and in the applications for which they are used. This has led to a diversity in the way fundamental instrument performances are characterized, reported, and understood. As a result, this makes it difficult to compare instruments for application-specific needs, or for commercial market needs.

In 2018, the IEEE P4001 group was formed to facilitate the development of a standard to unify the use …

A Novel Vacuum Fir Calibration System In Support Of Esa’S 9th Earth Explorer Mission At Ptb, J. Gieseler, M. Reiniger, D. Fehse, J. Schumacher, R. Hafner, A. Adibekyan, C. Monte

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

ESA’s 9th earth explorer mission Far-Infrared-Outgoing-Radiation Understanding and Monitoring (FORUM) aims for the first time to perform spectrally resolved, traceable measurements over extended time periods of earth’s outgoing FIR radiation in the wavelength range from 3.62 μm to 100 μm, providing valuable data for climate research, modeling and prediction. So far, only spectral measurements up to 17 μm have been realized. However, about half of earth’s outgoing total energy is found at wavelengths beyond 15 μm, making the FIR region crucial for earth’s energy budget and hence climate development. FORUM aims to close the data gap with an aspired absolute …

Filter Design For Precise Spectral Performance In Wide-Field-Of-View Optical Systems, Chelsea D. Appleget, Frank Pan, Travis D. Thorne, Peter D. Fuqua, James D. Barrie

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

Wide field of view (WFOV) imaging systems can suffer from significant variations in performance from the center of the focal plane array (FPA) to the periphery of the detector. Some of these undesirable spatial variations include angle of incidence (AOI) of the marginal rays, illumination, and resolution non-uniformities. Optical designers are often required to go to great lengths to achieve adequate performance across the entire field of view, but these designs commonly possess high angles of incidence on optical surfaces and filters.

For optical coatings and bandpass filters, large AOIs have crucial implications for system performance, as the physics of …

Examining Water Sneak Paths, De-Ling Liu, Aileen Hu, Andrew Robbins, Rocky Morales, Hagop Barsamian

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

Water outgassed from spacecraft materials plays a key role in degrading cryogenic sensors, therefore characterizing “sneak paths” where water molecules can potentially migrate from sources external to payload to cryogenic surfaces becomes an important task to ensure proper sensor performance. Via modeling and laboratory testing, we examine water molecular transport mechanisms, and will show that sneak path testing at ambient pressure environment can be effective and expedient to help gain insights into molecular transport phenomenon under vacuum scenarios.

Atmospheric Waves Experiment (Awe) Science To Calibration Requirements, Harri Latvakoski, Mike Taylor

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) is a mission to study gravity waves (upward propagating pressure waves) in the Earth’s atmosphere. The AWE science objectives are to quantify seasonal and regional variabilities and influences of gravity waves near the mesopause, identify the dominant dynamical processes controlling the gravity waves, and estimate the wider role of gravity waves in the ionosphere-thermosphere-mesosphere. This presentation will discuss the development of AWE from the science objectives to a practical mission design and from the mission concept to calibration requirements.

Data, Calibration And Processing Of Thermal Infrared Data From The Lisr Iss Mission, Andreas Brunn, Alan Rainot, Marius Bierdel, Max Gulde, Akshay Miryalkar, Atin Jain

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

Longwave Infrared Sensing demonstratoR (LisR) mission is a longwave infrared camera which is flying on board the International Space Station (ISS), launched in February 2022 with first light in early March 2022.

This demonstrator, developed by the founders of ConstellR at Fraunhofer Institute of High Speed Dynamics in Freiburg/ Germany, is a platform to demonstrate the capabilities of cryo-cooled long wave infrared detectors from space. The goal of this mission is to derive high-accuracy Land Surface Temperature (LST) information used for better planning and efficiency in the agricultural sector. This information is critical in order to ensure the sustainability of …

Olci L1 Radiometric Uncertainties Validation, A. Deru, L. Bourg, N. Lamquin, S. Hunt, S. Dransfeld

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

The Sentinel-3 satellites, S3A and S3B, have been respectively launched in 2016 and 2018, by the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of the European Commission’s (EC) Copernicus program, and have continuously acquired images of the Earth since then. Both satellites carry the Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) dedicated to scanning the ocean and land surface to harvest information of Earth visible and NIR radiances returned from the Earth’s surface to the sensor. The quality of the OLCI data is ensured through rigorous calibration and validation activity, but also thanks to the provisioning of prognostic uncertainties on the measurements. …

Correction For Dependence Of Instrument Elevation/Beta Angles On Goes-16 Abi Solar Calibration, Haifeng Qian, Xiangqian Wu, Fangfang Yu, Hyelim Yoo, Aaron Pearlman

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

GOES-16, the first in a series of new generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), carries an Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) with six Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) channels that are calibrated periodically with an onboard solar diffuser. After its launch in 2016, we found seasonal changes in the time series of some VNIR channel gains that cannot be explained by instrument degradation nor measurement errors. This was thought to be related to the implementation of the different solar calibration algorithm version and the impacts of satellite instrument angles condition. To characterize and quantify this seasonal variation and measurement bias, we …

Trishna In-Orbit Radiometric Calibration, Sebastien Marcq, Emilie Delogu, Robin Marron

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

TRISHNA is an Indian-French cooperative mission to be launched in 2025. Its principal focus will be on evapo-transpiration, ecosystem stress, and coastal oceans sea surface temperature. The satellite will host two payloads: one instrument in the VSWIR range – 7 bands from 485 to 1600 nm under ISRO’s responsibility, and one instrument in the TIR range – 4 bands from 8.5 to 11.5 μm. The resolution of both instruments is 57m at nadir and their swath is about 1000 km. TRISHNA’s TIR and VSWIR instruments will be extensively calibrated and characterized in on-ground facilities to ensure that their performance will …

In-Orbit Radiometric Performance Of Sentinel-2/Msi: Inter-Comparison With Landsat8/Oli-1 And Landsat9/Oli-2 Over Desert Pics Using Dimitri-Toolbox, B. Alhammoud, C. Mackenzie, J. Jackson, S. Clerc, J. Bruniquel, B. Lafrance, S. Enache, R. Iannone, V. Boccia, M. Bouvet

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

The Sentinel-2 constellation consists of two units MSI-A & MSI-B, which are Earth Observation (EO) optical missions developed and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) in the framework of the Copernicus programme of the European Commission.

The Copernicus Sentinel Optical Mission Performance Cluster (OPT-MPC) is responsible of the calibration, validation, and image quality of the user product. The inter-unit consistency of the radiometry measurements is critical for the mission as more Sentinel-2 platforms are planned in the future. In order to assess the validity and temporal stability of the radiometry measurements we use independent vicarious calibration methods for EO …

Libera On-Orbit Calibration, David Harber, Katherine Catani, Robert Haun, Nick Kruczek, Chris Randall, Peter Pilewskie, Sandra Collins

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

Libera is a next generation scanning radiometer that will fly as a rideshare on the Joint Polar Satellite System-3 (JPSS-3), which is set to launch in late 2027. Libera will provide continuity of the Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) Earth radiation budget observations, advance the development of a self-contained observing system, and provide enhanced observing capability to further support earth radiation budget science goals. Data collected by Libera will be used by the earth radiation budget community to continue the long-term measurements of radiation being reflected and emitted by Earth. The Libera science channels include shortwave (SW; 0.3-5 …

Refined Spatial Response Functions For Oco-3, Robert Rosenberg, Edwin Sarkissian, Vance Haemmerle, Thomas Kurosu, Richard Lee, Gary Spiers, Jia Zong, Annmarie Eldering, David Crisp

Conference on Characterization and Radiometric Calibration for Remote Sensing (CALCON)

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 (OCO-3) has been collecting high-resolution spectra of sunlight reflected by Earth in three near-infrared spectral channels since 2019. An external payload on the International Space Station, it uses the spare instrument from the OCO-2 mission, which continues to collect data as a dedicated satellite. The three individual long-slit imaging grating spectrometers have their own focal plane arrays and share a common entrance telescope. The OCO-3 telescope was modified to have a 1.8˚ field of view to yield a similar ground footprint size from the 400-420 km altitude ISS orbit as OCO-2 obtains with its 0.8˚ …