Performance of the NPP CrIS Sensor

This paper discusses the performance of the first CrIS flight instrument and its data product performance. Together with ATMS, the CrIS sensor is a critical payload for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) and will first fly on the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) mission, the risk reduction flight for NPOESS. NPOESS is the next generation weather and climate monitoring system for the Department of Defense (DoD), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) being developed under contract by Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.

The NPP CrIS flight sensor has recently completed thermal vacuum, electro-magnetic interference, and vibration testing. By the time of the presentation, the sensor sell-off is expected to have been completed as well. An overview of the sensor, the FM1 measurement performance, and details of the retrieval algorithms will be provided in this presentation.