A Low-Cost and Efficient Way to Archive Calibration/Validation Findings for Satellite Data

Operational satellite products such as Sensor Data Records (SDRs) and Environmental Data Records (EDRs) undergo vigorous Calibration/Validation (Cal/Val) studies throughout their mission life, especially prior to the initial public release. Recognizing the importance of preserving details of these Cal/Val methods and results or “findings” for current and future missions (e.g., the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) and Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)) as well as for the climate community, a web-based tool was developed in a joint effort of the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), NOAA's Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS), and the Government Resource for Algorithm Verification, Independent Testing, and Evaluation (GRAVITE), the Cal/Val support infrastructure at the JPSS Program Office. The goal of the collaboration is to provide a low-cost but efficient way to preserve Cal/Val study information, in order to provide traceability of product quality statements, to increase scientific defensibility and public confidence in weather and climate satellite products, to provide a reliable resource for advancing remote sensing science, and to establish a baseline or reference for future product algorithm development and evaluation. The group has streamlined the process to create (putting all necessary results and documentations together), review, archive, and provide access to the Cal/Val findings.

The end-to-end system design, data flow, and functionality of the web-based tool for creation and submission of the Cal/Val findings will be outlined along with guidelines on its applications and recommendations on documentation towards better transparency, traceability, and reproducibility of the archived findings.