Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Calibration/Validation Lessons Learned and Applications to Future Polar Orbiting and Geostationary Satellite Systems

95th AMS Annual Meeting 11th Annual Symposium on New Generation Operational Environmental Satellite Systems 4-8 January 2015, Phoenix, Arizona

Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Calibration/Validation Lessons Learned and Applications to Future Polar Orbiting and Geostationary Satellite Systems

Authors: Janna Feeley, Heather Kilcoyne, Bonnie Reed

The Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (SNPP) is the first of a series of satellites that comprise the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), which is the next generation of low earth orbiting environmental satellites. JPSS and its geostationary counterpart, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites – R Series (GOES-R), will provide data on atmospheric and sea surface temperatures, temperature and humidity profiles, land and ocean biological productivity, and cloud, ozone, and aerosol properties. Data from these satellite systems are processed into higher-level products that are disseminated to the customer and user community for integration into a multitude of applications, including weather and environmental forecasting, military applications, and climate studies.

To ensure quality of the SNPP data products, the JPSS Ground Project and NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) have managed a Calibration/Validation (Cal/Val) Program, executed by multiple discipline teams led by community experts that have extensive knowledge of the sensors, subject matter expertise, and heritage experience with space-based environmental measurements. These efforts have resulted in a mature suite of data products available from the JPSS Common Ground System (CGS) which are currently incorporated into numerous operational applications.

Execution of the SNPP Cal/Val process required development and utilization of new algorithms and ground system architecture, use of new data formats, development of tailored tools and offline test environments, and definition of unique inter-agency processes. The lessons learned from the successful execution of the SNPP Cal/Val program, where applicable, can and should be applied to future JPSS satellites and GOES-R series Cal/Val endeavors. This paper will highlight these lessons learned and assess specific areas to which these lessons are applicable to the future generations of satellites.