Cold Scene Calibration Validation Of The Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) With The Aircraft Based Scanning High-resolution Interferometer Sounder (S-HIS)

The second Suomi NPP airborne calibration validation campaign was conducted in March 2015, with flights over Greenland.  The primary goals of the campaign were to assess the radiometric calibration and environmental product retrieval for polar conditions.  The campaign was conducted out of Keflavik, Iceland with high altitude under-flights of the Suomi-NPP, METOP-A, METOP-B, and NASA Aqua satellites on the NASA ER-2 over the Greenland ice sheet.  During this calibration validation campaign, the NASA ER-2 payload consisted of the Scanning-High resolution Interferometer Sounder (S-HIS), the NPOESS Atmospheric Sounder Testbed-Interferometer (NAST-I), the NPOESS Atmospheric Sounder Testbed-Microwave Spectrometer (NAST-M), and the NASA MODIS/ASTER airborne simulator (MASTER).

The S-HIS has proven to be an extremely dependable and accurately calibrated airborne reference instrument with a well defined radiometric uncertainty and traceability path.  Considering the wide range of existing satellite calibration validation approaches, the high accuracy of the S-HIS sensor combined with the ability to perform pre- and post-campaign calibration tests to confirm the radiometric performance make satellite under-flight comparisons like those presented here uniquely capable of assessing infrared satellite observations with sufficient accuracy and traceability.

This presentation will include an overview of the double observation minus calculation (DOMC) radiance calibration validation approach, the calibration accuracy and traceability of the S-HIS validation data, a detailed assessment of a single SNPP under-flight, and a summary assessment of the CrIS, IASI-A, IASI-B, and AIRS spectral radiance observations for the under-flights.