Derive a MODIS-Based Calibration for the AVHRR Reflective Solar Channels of the NOAA KLM Operational Satellites

Abstract

The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) has been on board the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) polar-orbiting satellites (POSs) beginning with the Television Infrared Observation Satellite N launched in October 1978. Since then, a series of AVHRR sensors have collected over 30 years of continuous daily global observations. Recently, the NOAA K, L, and M POSs have provided an improved monitoring of the Earth's environment. The AVHRR instrument carried on NOAA-15 (NOAA-K) was launched in May 1998. It is followed by NOAA-16 to NOAA-18 (NOAA-L, NOAA-M, and NOAA-N), Metop-A, and NOAA-19 (NOAA-N'). All of them have been operating to date. An accurate and consistent calibration for the AVHRR reflective solar channels has been challenging as there is no onboard calibrator and vicarious calibration often needs to accumulate large number of reliable observations to derive any meaningful long-term trends. In this paper, we use the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites-endorsed calibration/validation Libya-4 (28.55 N, 23.39 W) desert site to track the long-term stability of reflective solar channels of the NOAA KLM AVHRR. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board the Terra and Aqua platforms is used as a reference to recalibrate the NOAA KLM trends. This study is focused on evaluating the calibration accuracy for the visible and near-infrared channels of each AVHRR instrument using MODIS channels 1 (620-670 nm) and 2 (841-876 nm). A site-specific bidirectional reflectance distribution function developed based on observations made by MODIS is used to normalize AVHRR-observed reflectances. Impacts of atmospheric water vapor on AVHRR-to-MODIS reflectance ratios are corrected with measured total water-vapor contents derived using the split-window temperature difference technique. Finally, MODIS-based AVHRR calibration results, which track the AVHRR on-orbit change, are applied on top of the AVHRR prelaunch values and presented in the form of quadratic polynomials as a function of time. All recalibrated AVHRR reflectances are compared with those provided from a Level 1B product. Additional validation is performed using NOAA-17 AVHRR observations acquired over Antarctic Dome Concordia site where the impact due to atmospheric water vapor is believed to be extremely small.