The International MODIS/AIRS Processing Package (IMAPP): Terra and Aqua direct broadcast processing and applications

NASA has funded the development of the International MODIS/AIRS Processing Package (IMAPP) to allow users with X band downlink antennae to produce calibrated/navigated data and science products from Terra and Aqua MODIS and Aqua AIRS data. The NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) spacecrafts Terra and Aqua are providing a new generation of sensor observations of planet Earth. The instruments onboard these platforms provide a wealth of information on ocean, land, and atmosphere processes that are of global environmental importance. A critical component of the data distribution system for Terra and Aqua is the direct broadcast service on the spacecraft. The versions of the IMAPP software released to date have proven to be highly effective tools for the global EOS direct broadcast community, enabling users to receive and process raw data in realtime (i.e., as observations are acquired) and generate environmental products as needed. To date, the University of Wisconsin’s Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) has released IMAPP software for MODIS Level 1 calibrated and geolocated radiances and a selection of MODIS Level 2 geophysical products, including cloud mask, cloudtop properties, cloud phase, atmospheric profiles, and total precipitable water vapor and sea surface temperatures. Working in conjunction with the AIRS Team at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), SSEC received the first postlaunch delivery of the AIRS/Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU)/Humidity Sounder Brazil (HSB) Level 1 software and released the first version of the AIRS/AMSU/HSB Level 1 IMAPP software on 5 November 2003. The current suite of IMAPP direct broadcast products have proven to be portable, robust and comparable with their operational counterparts.