The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) is a passive imaging radiometer on-board National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-R (GOES-R) series. Its bands 7 to 16 are categorized as infrared (IR) bands, sampling within a spectral range of 3.9 to 13.3 μm in mid-wave infrared (MWIR) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) regions. ABI provides variable area imagery and radiometric information of Earth’s surface, atmosphere, and cloud cover. All of the IR bands are calibrated on-orbit in reference to an internal blackbody. While the ABI aboard the GOES-16 satellite has been working properly, an anomaly with GOES-17 ABI’s cooling system, specifically its loop heat pipe (LHP) subsystem, prevents heat from being efficiently transferred from the ABI electronics to the radiator to be dissipated into space. As a consequence, the heat accumulates inside the instrument, so the temperatures of its key components for IR calibration, including the focal plane modules (FPMs), scan mirrors, and blackbody, cannot be maintained at their designed operational levels. As an example, the temperatures of MWIR and LWIR FPMs, where IR detectors are located, are currently operated at a baseline temperature of ∼20 K warmer than the design and vary by as many as 27 K diurnally. This causes severe degradation to the data quality of ABI IR Level 1b radiance and subsequent Level 2+ products during the hot period of the day. Significant progress has been made to mitigate the effects of the LHP anomaly to optimize the IR performance of GOES-17 ABI. We summarize the efforts made by NOAA’s GOES-R Calibration Working Group, working collaboratively with other teams, to evaluate and alleviate the negative impacts of warmer and floating FPM temperatures on ABI IR calibration, and assess the IR performance accordingly.
Two flight models of the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) are in-orbit on the GOES-16 and GOES-17 geostationary satellites, with two more planned to be launched on GOES-T (2021) and GOES-U (2024). The ABI is the primary Earthviewing weather imaging instrument on the GOES-R Series, producing Level 1b (L1b) radiances and Cloud and Moisture Imagery (CMI) data products. The ABI L1b product is the source for all the ABI Level 2+ (L2+) products, including CMI, which makes the maturity process for these two products important. CMI is the only key performance parameter (KPP) of the GOES-R Series mission and thus CMI takes precedence over other ABI L2+ products. As the only KPP, CMI follows the same maturity schedule as the ABI L1b product. For the ABI L1b and CMI data products to be declared operational, they must pass through a series of calibration and validation tests and analyses, with the peerreviewed results showing that the instruments and products have achieved each level of maturity consistent with mission success. This paper describes the assessment process, the definitions of the product validation maturity levels, and an overview of the product performance for each instrument at each validation level. Additionally, this paper will describe planned programmatic changes aimed at streamlining the maturity process for the upcoming GOES-T and GOES-U satellites.
The advanced baseline imager (ABI) on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R Series is a great improvement compared to the legacy GOES imager. For example, there are more spectral bands at improved spatial resolution and more frequent imagery. The vast majority of the images generated by the ABIs are free of visual defects, well calibrated, and produced in a timely fashion. Yet, there are rare times when visual artifacts, or anomalies, occur. Our study highlights and explains a number of these artifacts, some of which are traditional imagery defects for imagers such as striping and stray light, and colorfully named artifacts such as “caterpillar tracks” and “shark fins.” In addition, multiple resources are presented for more information about image quality and near-real-time image monitoring.
GOES-16, the first new generation of NOAA’s geostationary satellite, was launched on November 19, 2016. The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) is the key payload of the mission. The instrument performance and satellite intercalibration results show that infrared (IR) radiances are well calibrated and very stable. Yet during its early post-launch tests (PLT) and post-launch product tests (PLPT) period, several calibration anomalies were identified with the IR bands: 1) the IR measurements of the Continental United States (CONUS) and mesoscale (MESO) images demonstrated an artificial periodicity of 15 minutes - Periodic Infrared Calibration Anomaly (PICA), in line with the Mode-3 timeline; and 2) the calibration coefficients displayed small discontinuities twice a day around satellite noon and midnight, which resulted in slight detectable diurnal calibration variations. This work is to report our investigation to the root causes of these anomalies, validation of the anomaly corrections, and assessment of the impacts of the corrections on the radiance quality. By examining the radiometrically calibrated space-swath radiance collected from the moon chasing events, it was found that these anomalies were attributed to the residuals of the spatial uniformity corrections for the scan mirrors. A new set of scan mirror emissivity correction Look-Up Tables (LUTs) were later delivered by the Vendor and implemented operationally. Further analyses showed that the new emissivity LUTs significantly reduced the periodic radiometric variation and diurnal variations. The same method will be applied to validate the IR spatial uniformity for the future GOES-R series ABI instruments.
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-14 imager was operated by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in an experimental rapid scan 1-min mode that emulates the high-temporal resolution sampling of the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on the next generation GOES-R series. Imagery with a refresh rate of 1 min of many phenomena were acquired, including clouds, convection, fires, smoke, and hurricanes, including 6 days of Hurricane Sandy through landfall. NOAA had never before operated a GOES in a nearly continuous 1-min mode for such an extended period of time, thereby making these unique datasets to explore the future capabilities possible with GOES-R. The next generation GOES-R imager will be able to routinely take mesoscale (1000 km×1000 km) images every 30 s (or two separate locations every minute). These images can be acquired even while scanning continental United States and full disk images. These high time-resolution images from the GOES-14 imager are being used to prepare for the GOES-R era and its advanced imager. This includes both the imagery and quantitative derived products such as cloud-top cooling. Several animations are included to showcase the rapid change of the many phenomena observed during super rapid scan operations for GOES-R (SRSOR).
This article (CID 063598) was originally published in Vol. 6 of the Journal of Applied Remote Sensing on 30 October 2012 with incorrect captions for Figs. 4–12. The captions have been corrected, and the paper was republished on 15 January 2013.
With the launch of GOES-R expected in 2015, research is currently under way to fully understand the characteristics of every channel on its Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI). The ABI will have two infrared (IR) window bands centered near 10.35 and 11.2 μm. Since no broad-band space-borne sensor has a channel near 10.35 μm, radiative transfer model simulations are used to study the clear-sky gaseous absorption properties in this wavelength range. It is shown that water vapor preferentially absorbs radiation at 11.2 μm compared to 10.35 μm, making the 10.35 μm a "cleaner" window IR band.
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-10 was the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) operational GOES-West satellite for approximately eight years until it was retired as an operational satellite due to an ever increasing inclination in its orbit. Since its retirement, GOES-10 has been used for a number of applications, such as, special 1-minute imagery over parts of North America during its move to 60° West longitude, routine imagery of the Southern Hemisphere, the first operational Sounder coverage over South America, initialization of regional numerical weather prediction models, and even temporary recalled as the operational GOES-East satellite during a major GOES-12 anomaly. Products from the GOES-10 Sounder and/or Imager include: imagery, cloud-top parameters, atmospheric stability indices, total precipitable water vapor, motion vector winds, volcanic ash detection, fire detection and characterization, and precipitation. As the mission of GOES-10 has continued beyond its retirement as an official operational US satellite, already lasting more than double its five-year life expectancy, many countries have been afforded the opportunity to benefit from on-going GOES-10 measurements. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the history of GOES-10, especially the unique situation of GOES-10 operating in support of central and South America after its operational use.
Geostationary Simultaneous Nadir Observations (GSNOs) are collected for Earth Observing System (EOS)
Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) onboard Aqua and a global array of geostationary imagers. The
imagers compared in this study are GOES-12 and METEOSAT-8. A single polar-orbiting satellite can be
used to intercalibrate any number of geostationary imagers. Using a high spectral resolution sensor, in this
case AIRS, with absolute calibration to within 0.1K in most bands brings this method closer to an absolute
reckoning of Imager calibration accuracy based on laboratory measurements of the instrument's spectral
response. The gap-filling method presented is an adequate method of compensating for AIRS spectral gaps
in nearly all geostationary bands for comparisons done at or near the equator. The US Standard
Atmosphere is adequate for the most part, but an atmosphere either calculated from an AIRS retrieval or
one more suited to the environment in which comparisons are being made, could produce even better
results.
The Japanese Advanced Meteorological Imager (JAMI) was developed by Raytheon and delivered to Space Systems/Loral as the Imager Subsystem for Japan's MTSAT-1R satellite. MTSAT-1R was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center on 2005 February 26 and became formally operational on 2005 June 28. This paper compares in-flight performance of JAMI with predictions made before launch. The performance areas discussed include radiometric sensitivity (NEDT and SNR) versus spectral channel, calibration accuracy versus spectral channel derived from comparisons of JAMI and AIRS measurements and image navigation and registration.
In order to meet the requirements, documented by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)
user communities, the instruments designated for the GOES-R notional baseline include an Advanced Baseline
Imager (ABI), a Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES), a Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), and
advanced space and solar observing instruments including the Solar Imaging Suite (SIS) and the Space Environment
In-Situ Suite (SEISS). These instruments will monitor a wide range of phenomena, including applications relating
to: weather, climate, ocean, coastal zones, land, hazards, solar and space.
Exploiting the redundancy in high spectral resolution observations, dependent set Principle Component Analysis (PCA)
is a simple yet very powerful tool not only for noise filtering and lossy compression, but also for the characterization of
sensor noise and other variable artifacts using Earth scene data. Our approach for dependent set PCA of AIRS Earth
scene data is presented. Aspects of the analyses include 1) estimation of NEDT using PCA and comparisons to values
derived from on-board blackbodies, 2) estimation of the scene dependence of NEDN, 3) estimation of the spectrally
correlated component of NEDT and comparison to pre-launch analyses using blackbody views, 4) investigation of non-
Gaussian noise behavior, and 5) inspection of individual PCs. The results of the PCA analyses are generally consistent
with results obtained pre-launch and on-orbit using blackbody and/or space view data. Specific findings include: 1)
PCA estimates of AIRS spectrally random and spectrally correlated NEDN compare well with estimates computed from
on-board blackbody and space views, 2) the signal dependence of AIRS NEDN is accurately parameterized in terms of
the scene radiance, 3) examination of the reconstruction error allows non-Gaussian phenomenon such as popping to be
characterized, and 4) inspection of the PCs and individual PC filtered radiance spectra is a powerful technique for
diagnosing low level artifacts in hyperspectral data.
MODIS (MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and other satellite data have been staged (http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/abi/bitdepthcompression/) for use in ABI (Advanced Baseline Imager) data compression studies. The 16-channel ABI is the next generation imager on the GOES-R (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) series. Most ABI bands can be simulated in this manner from MODIS observations. The advantage of using actual satellite observations is that the small-scale features are more realistic than those simulated from numerical models. High spatial resolution MODIS data have been spatially and radiometrically reformatted and posted for community use. This includes visible (VIS), near-infrared (IR) and IR bands. These images include weather/environmental phenomena, such as: fire and smoke, mountain waves, dust storms and clouds. There are several steps in these ABI simulations: select the original MODIS images for these various cases, select bands with similar central wavenumbers, de-stripe the IR bands, average to the ABI spatial resolution, subset over the area of interest, and correct for planned image bit depth. Sample METEOSAT-8 SEVIRI (Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager) data, from EUMETSAT (EUropean organization for the exploitation of METeorological SATellites), have also been posted. There are 11 spectral bands for 3 sequential times for those interested in compression of full disk images. Finally, unaltered GOES-12 Imager Full Disk images have been staged. There are five spectral bands for both a "night" and "day" case. There has been no post-processing on these non-MODIS images. Each of these datasets has advantages and disadvantages in so far as they represent what will be obtained from the ABI.
With increased spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution, the Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES) of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R Series will contribute to a significant improvement in the GOES products, including an increase in the number of products over the current GOES Imager and Sounder, especially when combined with the GOES-R Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI). The planned capabilities of the HES are encompassed by tasks, which describe required performance for operating at required scan rates. The scheduling of the HES will be determined by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). A range of possible scan scenarios for optimizing the collection of data for users with a variety of geographic or phenomenological concerns will be discussed here. One such schedule from the sounding capability of the HES would be a full "sounding disk" at 10 km (sub-satellite point resolution) covered every three hours, as well as the contiguous U.S. every hour at 4 km resolution, plus selected other regions of interest. The HES Coastal Waters (CW) will provide coverage of the coastal areas every three hours, in addition to other regions such as the Great Lakes, or other features of interest.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.