The JPSS CrIS Instrument: First Year on Orbit

The Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) is one of the mission-critical instruments on board the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), including the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) weather satellite and JPSS-1. The CrIS instrument collects hyperspectral infrared radiance data over a spectral range from 3.9 to 15.4 microns, with a ground spatial resolution of 14 kilometers at nadir. Its data is used for precise measurements of vertical distributions of temperature, moisture, and pressure within Earth’s atmosphere. Infrared sounder data provides critical input to numerical weather prediction (NWP) models and is particularly important in improving the accuracy of global and regional 3-5-day weather forecasts. Other data products from sounders are now starting to be used for climate and commercial applications.

The CrIS instrument on board SNPP has recently completed seven years of flawless on-orbit operations. The second CrIS instrument was launched aboard the JPSS-1 satellite in 2017, has been successfully operating for the past year, and has completed on-orbit calibration and validation. Three other CrIS instruments are currently in production for JPSS-2 through JPSS-4.

This paper will summarize the on-orbit performance of the CrIS instrument on JPSS-1 (CrIS-JPSS1). This includes details of the CrIS-JPSS1 measured noise-equivalent spectral radiance (NEdN) performance, radiometric uncertainty performance utilizing a new and improved internal calibration target, spectral uncertainty, and spectral stability. We will provide a brief update of CrIS-SNPP on-obit performance and the production status of the CrIS instruments for JPSS-2 through JPSS-4.