VIIRS has 22 bands: 14 reflective solar bands (RSBs), 7 thermal emissive bands (TEBs) and a day-night band (DNB). The RSBs include 11 moderate bands (M-bands) at a resolution of 742 m and 3 imaging band (I-bands) at 371 m, and cover the spectral wavelengths between 0.412 to 2.25 μm. The TEBs include 5 M-bands and 2 I-bands, covering spectral wavelengths between 3.7 μm and 12.013 μm. The calibrated SDRs for these bands are used in downstream processing to generate Environmental Data Records (EDRs), including Ocean Color/Chlorophyll, Sea Surface Temperature, Active Fires, and atmospheric properties. EDR data quality depends on accurate radiometric, spatial, and spectral calibration, as well as accurate polarization sensitivity characterization. Each of these has been assessed prelaunch for JPSS-1, and results have yielded both expected and unexpected differences in the JPSS-1 VIIRS performance, as compared to SNPP.
This paper will highlight a subset of the deltas between the SNPP and JPSS-1 VIIRS instrument performance. Specifically, it will compare RSB polarization sensitivity uncertainty, TEB detector noise, and the frequency of expected occurrences of saturation rollover in a subset of RSB and TEB bands. Further, this paper will discuss expected impacts to Ocean Color, Sea Surface Temperature, Active Fires, and Cloud EDR. Finally it will discuss potential mitigation approaches for each of these artifacts, which may be implemented in the post-launch JPSS-1 calibration/validation phase.
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