A Stereo Approach to High-Resolution Observations of the Planetary Boundary Layer

The Compact Midwave Imaging System (CMIS) is a NASA ESTO Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) project designed for deployment on a constellation of small satellites to capture the diurnal variability of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) at high spatial and temporal resolution. The instrument is capable of providing radiometrically calibrated, multi-spectral, wide-field-of-view observations 24/7 in the shortwave-midwave infrared (SWIR/MWIR) of clouds, aerosols, volcanic ash, smoke plumes, etc. The mission concept calls for at least two small satellites in low-earth orbit a few minutes apart to resolve ambiguities in height assignment and along-track motions that are apparent in current earth-observing missions. Airborne flight tests of the new instrument in 2019 will be used to demonstrate the capability of the instrument to meet science objectives in the 2017 Earth Science Decadal Survey for PBL winds and cloud tops. We have developed a simulation based on the System for Atmospheric Modeling (SAM) Cloud Resolving Model (CRM) from SUNY-Stonybrook to predict the accuracy and error characteristics of cloud geometric heights and atmospheric motion vectors retrieved by CMIS on airborne flights and from space. Our initial simulations suggest that the mean error for the CGH retrieval will be better than 300 m for a 500-km orbit with image registration accurate to ½ pixel. In this presentation, an overview of the CMIS instrument design, concept of operations, and predicted system performance will be presented.