Assessing the GOES-16 ABI solar channels calibration using deep convective clouds

Abstract

Tropical deep convective clouds (DCCs) are thick, bright, cold, and their reflectance is considered stable. Thus, DCCs can be used to calibrate visible/near infrared (VNIR) channels of satellite instruments. Previous studies report how DCCs are identified by providing specific brightness temperature thresholds and are used for calibration purpose as an invariant target for solar channels. On 19 November 2016, the Geostationary Operational Environment Satellite-R Series (GOES-R) was successfully launched and became GOES-16 after it reached the geostationary orbit on 29 November 2016. The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument on-board GOES-16 has 16 multi-spectral bands (0.47 - 13.3 μm) which have more accurate and frequent radiometric calibration information than previous GOES satellite series. Assessment and monitoring of the GOES-16 ABI VNIR channels calibration using DCC method is a main objective of this study. The target region is a 20°N-20°S and 119.5°W-59.5°W centered on the GOES-16 ABI check-out spatial domain (at 0.0°N, 89.5°W). This work is expected to provide useful information regarding the ABI radiometric calibration stability and such calibration stability of the ABI VNIR channels will be compared the results with other methods (e.g., ray-matching and desert) in the near future.