Suomi NPP VIIRS Day Night Band (DNB) applications

The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) Visible/Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) represents a revolutionary new sensor whose capabilities can assist multiple environmental nowcasting applications in ways far superior to the legacy Operational Linescan Sensor (OLS) on the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft. DNB provides calibrated radiances, enhanced spatial resolution (over 3x better and maintained across the 3,000 km swath), and the 14 versus 6-bit digitization needed to characterize the vast dynamic range of radiance that night views afford. Thus, DNB data enables the user to more fully exploit the wealth of nocturnal visible light emissions (city lights, lightning, aurora, fires, gas flares, fishing fleets, and lava flows) when no moonlight exits in addition to the lunar illumination of clouds and terrestrial features (sea ice and snow cover) when partial to full moon conditions prevail.

The Naval Research Laboratory's Marine Meteorology Division in Monterey, CA (NRL-MRY) works with VIIRS DNB near real-time digital data in collaboration with the Cooperative Institute for Research of the Atmosphere (CIRA) and the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC, Monterey) via data sets provided by both the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA, Omaha) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) via the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS, Madison, WI). Global data sets are interrogated to provide NRL-MRY with ~ 300 GB/day for multiple sectors around the planet that provide a diverse suite of environmental conditions that assist in our role as a calibration and validation team member. These domains range from the Arctic and Antarctic to CONUS, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.

This presentation will highlight NRL-MRY's efforts to exploit VIIRS DNB digital data to create enhanced satellite meteorological products directly geared to nowcasting applications related to; a) dust enhancement observations, b) volcanic ash plumes, c) fires and resultant smoke plumes, d) cloud properties including cloud layers, e) snow-cloud discrimination, d) tropical cyclone structure, e) aurora monitoring, and f) city lights and fishing fleet detection. Examples will be used to explain the near real-time potential applications and comparisons with the legacy OLS sensors.