Orbital variations and impacts on observations from SNPP, NOAA 18-20, and AQUA sun-synchronous satellites

Xi Shao; Changyong Cao; Xiaoxiong Xiong; Tung-chang Liu; Bin Zhang; Sirish Uprety

doi:10.1117/12.2323012

7 September 2018 Orbital variations and impacts on observations from SNPP, NOAA 18-20, and AQUA sun-synchronous satellites

Xi Shao, Changyong Cao, Xiaoxiong Xiong, Tung-chang Liu, Bin Zhang, Sirish Uprety

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10764, Earth Observing Systems XXIII; 107641U (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2323012
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2018, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The AQUA, SNPP, and NOAA 18-20 PM sun-synchronous satellites were designed with similar local time, local solar zenith angles, and overlapping temporal coverage. Although the satellites are expected to have fixed local equator- crossing time, during the satellite lifetime, the equator-crossing times of these satellites drift. For NOAA 18-19, the drift in equator-crossing time is significant (few hours) and no correction has been done over the lifetime. For SNPP and AQUA, correction in the orbital inclination angle was periodically performed to maintain the equator-crossing time around the designed value. The impact of systematic drift of the local observation time during the satellite life cycle can be significant and should be accounted for when using multi-year time series of satellite products in long-term environmental studies. In this paper, the equator-crossing time drift of AQUA, SNPP, and NOAA 18-20, the correction of SNPP and AQUA equator-crossing time via orbital inclination angle change, and the consequent local solar zenith angle variation are evaluated. The impact of such drift on low-latitude mean brightness temperature trend derived from the similar ~11 μm thermal emissive channel of AQUA MODIS CH31, SNPP Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) CH15 and NOAA 18-19 HIRS CH08 are analyzed. The drift in the mean brightness temperature measured by these sensors is combined as a function of local time and analyzed using diurnal cycle analysis. The mean brightness temperature drift for SNPP VIIRS is reconciled within the context of much larger temperature drift of NOAA 18-19.

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Xi Shao, Changyong Cao, Xiaoxiong Xiong, Tung-chang Liu, Bin Zhang, and Sirish Uprety "Orbital variations and impacts on observations from SNPP, NOAA 18-20, and AQUA sun-synchronous satellites", Proc. SPIE 10764, Earth Observing Systems XXIII, 107641U (7 September 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2323012

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KEYWORDS

Satellites

MODIS

Temperature metrology

Visible radiation

Earth observing sensors

Environmental monitoring

Infrared imaging

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