Comparison of SeaWiFS on-orbit lunar and vicarious calibrations

Robert E. Eplee Jr.; Sean W. Bailey; Robert A. Barnes; Hugh H. Kieffer; Charles R. McClain

doi:10.1117/12.679168

7 September 2006 Comparison of SeaWiFS on-orbit lunar and vicarious calibrations

Robert E. Eplee Jr., Sean W. Bailey, Robert A. Barnes, Hugh H. Kieffer, Charles R. McClain

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6296, Earth Observing Systems XI; 629610 (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.679168
Event: SPIE Optics + Photonics, 2006, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group's Calibration and Validation Team has used monthly lunar calibrations of SeaWiFS to establish and maintain the on-orbit radiometric stability of instrument at the 0.1% level over its 9-year mission. The Cal/Val Team has compared the SeaWiFS lunar observations with the USGS ROLO photometric model of the Moon to verify the long-term stability of the SeaWiFS radiometric calibration. This stability has allowed the Team to apply a system-level vicarious calibration of the sensor/atmospheric calibration algorithm that is independent of time, yielding a single gain per band. SeaWiFS bands 1-6 (412-670 nm) are calibrated against water-leaving radiances measured by the Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY) that have been propagated to the top of the atmosphere. Band 7 (765 nm) is calibrated relative to band 8 (865 nm) so that the atmospheric correction algorithm selects maritime aerosol models over open ocean scenes. The long-term radiometric stability of SeaWiFS allows the Cal/Val Team to directly compare the mean residuals of the lunar observations from the ROLO model with the vicarious gains. A linear fit of the vicarious gains vs - (mean ROLO residual) for bands 1-6 gives a slope of 1.084 with a correlation of 0.980. The predicted mean ROLO residual for band 7, computed from the observed mean residual for band 8 and the vicarious gain for band 7, agrees with the observed mean residual for band 7 to within 0.5%. The radiometric stability of SeaWiFS allows the comparison of the prelaunch calibration of SeaWiFS, the calibration of MOBY, and the calibration of the USGS ROLO model. Such a comparison is of interest to other Earth-observing instruments which use the Moon as a calibration reference, such as MODIS, VIIRS, and ABI.

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Robert E. Eplee Jr., Sean W. Bailey, Robert A. Barnes, Hugh H. Kieffer, and Charles R. McClain "Comparison of SeaWiFS on-orbit lunar and vicarious calibrations", Proc. SPIE 6296, Earth Observing Systems XI, 629610 (7 September 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.679168

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