A Methodology to Determine Recipe Adjustments for Multispectral Composites Derived from Next-Generation Advanced Satellite Imagers

Abstract

AbstractThe European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) began creating multispectral [i.e., red–green–blue (RGB)] composites in the early 2000s with the advent of the Meteosat-8 Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI). As new satellite sensors—for example, the Himawari-8 Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI)—become available, there is a need to adjust the EUMETSAT RGB standard thresholds (i.e., recipes) to account for differences in spectral characteristics, spectral response, and atmospheric absorption in order to maintain an interpretation consistent with legacy composites. For the purpose of comparing RGB composites derived from nonoverlapping geostationary sensors, an adjustment technique was applied to the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi-NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) to create an intermediate reference sensor (i.e., SEVIRI proxy). Brightness temperature offset values between each AHI and SEVIRI proxy band centered near 3.9, 8.6, 11.0, and 12.0 µm were determined with this technique and through line-by-line radiative transfer model simulations. The relationship between measured brightness temperature of AHI and the SEVIRI proxy was determined though linear regression similar to research by the Japan Meteorological Agency. The linear regression coefficients were utilized to determine the RGB recipe adjustments. Adjusting the RGB recipes to account for the differences in spectral characteristics results in RGB composites consistent with legacy EUMETSAT composites. The methodology was applied to an example of the Nighttime Microphysics RGB, confirming the Japan Meteorological Agency adjustments and demonstrating a simple methodology to determine recipe adjustments for RGB composites derived with next-generation sensors.