Large Zenith Angles Research Articles

A Comparative Analysis of the OI 130.4‐nm Emission Observed by NASA's TIMED Mission Using a Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer Model

AbstractRemote sensing of the OI 130.4‐nm emission is potentially a useful means for routine monitoring of the atomic oxygen abundance in the upper atmosphere, especially for altitudes above 300 km where the OI 135.6‐nm emission becomes too dim to be useful. However, to date, the interpretation of the OI 130.4‐nm emission as a proxy for the O density remains ambiguous in that the relative contribution of the external and internal sources to the production of this emission has not been fully understood. In this study, we perform a comparative analysis of the OI 130.4‐nm dayglow observed by NASA's Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) mission using a Monte Carlo radiative transfer model to investigate the consistency between models and the TIMED/Global UltraViolet Imager (GUVI) data. The solar 130.4‐nm flux is measured by TIMED/Solar EUV Experiment (SEE). The Global Airglow (GLOW) and the Atmospheric Ultraviolet Radiance Integrated Code (AURIC) models are used to calculate the initial volume emission rates due to photoelectron impact excitation, and the NRLMSISE‐00 model is used to provide the atmospheric density and temperature profiles. Our data‐model comparisons suggest that the model predicted contributions from photoelectron impact excitation need to be scaled by a factor of 0.1–0.5 to achieve good fits with the data. Moreover, the modeled solar contributions need to be scaled up/down to fit the observations at small ( 20 )/large ( 60 ) solar zenith angles, with a factor of 0.5–1.7. These scale factors are larger than the uncertainties in the GUVI and SEE instrument calibrations, which might suggest inaccurate model predictions of the dayside O density and temperature variations with solar zenith angles.

Explaining the ANITA events by a Le−Lτ gauge model

The ANITA experiment has registered two anomalous events that can be interpreted as ντ or ν̄τ with a very high energy of \U0001d4aa(0.6) EeV emerging from deep inside the Earth. At such high energies, the Earth is opaque to neutrinos so the emergence of these neutrinos at such large zenith angles is a mystery. In our paper, we present a model that explains the two anomalous events through a Le −Lτ gauge interaction involving two new Weyl fermions charged under the new gauge symmetry. We find that, as a bonus of the model, the lighter Weyl fermion can be a dark matter component. We discuss how the ANITA observation can be reconciled with the IceCube and Auger upper bounds. We also demonstrate how this model can be tested in future by collider experiments.

Probing the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with neutrinos in the EeV energy range using the Pierre Auger Observatory

Neutrinos with energies above 1017 eV are detectable with the Surface Detector Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The identification is efficiently performed for neutrinos of all flavors interacting in the atmosphere at large zenith angles, as well as for Earth-skimming τ neutrinos with nearly tangential trajectories relative to the Earth. No neutrino candidates were found in ∼ 14.7 years of data taken up to 31 August 2018. This leads to restrictive upper bounds on their flux. The 90% C.L. single-flavor limit to the diffuse flux of ultra-high-energy neutrinos with an Eν−2 spectrum in the energy range 1.0 × 1017 eV –2.5 × 1019 eV is E2 dNν/dEν < 4.4 × 10−9 GeV cm−2 s−1 sr−1, placing strong constraints on several models of neutrino production at EeV energies and on the properties of the sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

Intercomparison and improvement of two-stream shortwave radiative transfer schemes in Earth system models for a unified treatment of cryospheric surfaces

Abstract. Snow is an important climate regulator because it greatly increases the surface albedo of middle and high latitudes of the Earth. Earth system models (ESMs) often adopt two-stream approximations with different radiative transfer techniques, the same snow therefore has different solar radiative properties depending whether it is on land or on sea ice. Here we intercompare three two-stream algorithms widely used in snow models, improve their predictions at large zenith angles, and introduce a hybrid model suitable for all cryospheric surfaces in ESMs. The algorithms are those employed by the SNow ICe and Aerosol Radiative (SNICAR) module used in land models, dEdd–AD used in Icepack, the column physics used in the Los Alamos sea ice model CICE and MPAS-Seaice, and a two-stream discrete-ordinate (2SD) model. Compared with a 16-stream benchmark model, the errors in snow visible albedo for a direct-incident beam from all three two-stream models are small (&lt;±0.005) and increase as snow shallows, especially for aged snow. The errors in direct near-infrared (near-IR) albedo are small (&lt;±0.005) for solar zenith angles θ&lt;75∘, and increase as θ increases. For diffuse incidence under cloudy skies, dEdd–AD produces the most accurate snow albedo for both visible and near-IR (&lt;±0.0002) with the lowest underestimate (−0.01) for melting thin snow. SNICAR performs similarly to dEdd–AD for visible albedos, with a slightly larger underestimate (−0.02), while it overestimates the near-IR albedo by an order of magnitude more (up to 0.04). 2SD overestimates both visible and near-IR albedo by up to 0.03. We develop a new parameterization that adjusts the underestimated direct near-IR albedo and overestimated direct near-IR heating persistent across all two-stream models for θ&gt;75∘. These results are incorporated in a hybrid model SNICAR-AD, which can now serve as a unified solar radiative transfer model for snow in ESM land, land ice, and sea ice components.

A Geometric Model to Simulate Urban Thermal Anisotropy in Simplified Dense Neighborhoods (GUTA-Dense)

Remotely observed urban surface temperature varies with viewing direction due to the 3-D structure of buildings and heterogeneous temperature distributions. A previous model, GUTA-osg, was developed to simulate urban thermal anisotropy (UTA) in simplified neighborhoods. However, this model fails in neighborhoods with plan area fraction $\lambda _{p}> 0.3$ and aspect ratio $h/w > 2$ . In this paper, a limitation of the variation of component fractions that are in relation with UTA is imposed on GUTA-osg and a new geometric model is derived to simulate UTA at large view zenith angles (VZA) for high-density neighborhoods (GUTA-dense). The two geometric models have a unified structure, and thus the combination of them can be used for inversion purposes. Evaluation using the 3-D discrete anisotropic radiative transfer (DART) model shows that the use of the GUTA-dense model helps obtain reliable component temperature differences from directional temperatures in highly dense neighborhoods. According to the limitations, the applicable VZAs and urban geometries of the GUTA-dense model are derived. In dense neighborhoods with $h/w_{\text {3D}} > 2$ , thermal anisotropy for VZAs greater than 50° should be simulated by combining the GUTA-osg and GUTA-dense models. The larger the $h/w_{\text {3D}}$ , the lower is the VZA where the GUTA-dense model is necessary. Variable building height tends to decrease model accuracy because roofs start to contribute to thermal anisotropy. The directionality of emissivity is another factor that needs to be considered in the next step to model the angular variation of remotely observed brightness temperature.

Satellite-mediated quantum atmospheric links

The establishment of quantum communication links over a global scale is enabled by satellite nodes. We examine the influence of Earth's atmosphere on the performance of quantum optical communication channels with emphasis on the downlink scenario. We derive the geometrical path length between a moving low Earth orbit satellite and an optical ground station as a function of the ground observer's zenith angle, his geographical latitude, and the meridian inclination angle of the satellite. We show that the signal distortions due to regular atmospheric refraction, atmospheric absorption, and turbulence have a strong dependence on the zenith angle. The observed saturation of transmittance fluctuations for large zenith angles is explained. The probability distribution of the transmittance for slant propagation paths is derived, which enables us to perform the security analysis of decoy state protocols implemented via satellite-mediated links.

Semi-analytical algorithms of ocean color remote sensing under high solar zenith angles.

With the increasing interest in ocean color remote sensing in polar oceans and geostationary ocean color satellite with diurnal observations, it is unavoidable to encounter ocean color retrievals under high solar zenith angles. Under these scenarios, the capability of current remote sensing algorithms is poorly known. In this study, the performance of the two widely used semi-analytical algorithms for the water inherent optical properties (QAA and GSM01) under high solar zenith angle conditions were firstly evaluated based on global in situ data set (SeaBASS-NOMAD). The results showed that the performances of both QAA and GSM01 degraded significantly with the increasing in solar zenith angle (SZA), and the biases increased about 1.3-fold when SZA varied from 30° to 80°. The high uncertainties at high SZA was mainly induced by the systematic overestimation of the key parameter u (ratio of backscattering coefficient to the sum of absorption and backscattering coefficients) at high solar zenith angles. Based on the Hydrolight-simulated data set, a new model (NN-algorithm) for retrieving u from remote sensing reflectance was developed for high solar zenith angle conditions using the neural network method. The validation results revealed that the NN-algorithm could improve the estimation of parameter u and further ocean color products. In addition, our results indicate that a more accurate atmosphere correction is needed to deal with ocean color remote sensing data acquired under large solar zenith angle conditions.

A Method for Landsat and Sentinel 2 (HLS) BRDF Normalization

The Harmonized Landsat/Sentinel-2 (HLS) project aims to generate a seamless surface reflectance product by combining observations from USGS/NASA Landsat-8 and ESA Sentinel-2 remote sensing satellites. These satellites’ sampling characteristics provide nearly constant observation geometry and low illumination variation through the scene. However, the illumination variation throughout the year impacts the surface reflectance by producing higher values for low solar zenith angles and lower reflectance for large zenith angles. In this work, we present a model to derive the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) normalization and apply it to the HLS product at 30 m spatial resolution. It is based on the BRDF parameters estimated from the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface reflectance product (M{O,Y}D09) at 1 km spatial resolution using the VJB method (Vermote et al., 2009). Unsupervised classification (segmentation) of HLS images is used to disaggregate the BRDF parameters to the HLS spatial resolution and to build a BRDF parameters database at HLS scale. We first test the proposed BRDF normalization for different solar zenith angles over two homogeneous sites, in particular one desert and one Peruvian Amazon forest. The proposed method reduces both the correlation with the solar zenith angle and the coefficient of variation (CV) of the reflectance time series in the red and near infrared bands to 4% in forest and keeps a low CV of 3% to 4% for the deserts. Additionally, we assess the impact of the view zenith angle (VZA) in an area of the Brazilian Amazon forest close to the equator, where impact of the angular variation is stronger because it occurs in the principal plane. The directional reflectance shows a strong dependency with the VZA. The current HLS BRDF correction reduces this dependency but still shows an under-correction, especially in the near infrared, while the proposed method shows no dependency with the view angles. We also evaluate the BRDF parameters using field surface albedo measurements as a reference over seven different sites of the US surface radiation budget observing network (SURFRAD) and five sites of the Australian OzFlux network.

Bit-error rate investigation of satellite-to-ground downlink optical communication employing spatial diversity and modulation techniques

In this paper, the error performance of multiple apertures receiver system under different modulation schemes is evaluated for satellite-to-ground downlink optical communications. Gamma–Gamma channel model is used for the consideration of moderate to strong atmospheric turbulence. Error rate expression equations of maximum ratio combining (MRC), equal gain combining (EGC), and selection combining (SC) techniques are derived for M-ary pulse position modulation (M-PPM) and M-ary differential PPM (M-DPPM) modulation schemes. Bit-error rate (BER) performances of M-PPM and M-DPPM modulated MRC, EGC, and SC direct detection receiver systems are compared with a single monolithic aperture receiver system. Performances of downlink direct detection multiple apertures receiver system are also compared among on–off keying (OOK), M-PPM, and M-DPPM modulation schemes. Numerical calculations and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are used to exam the results of our analysis. It is found that, for M-PPM and M-DPPM, the effect of atmospheric turbulence can be reduced by MRC and EGC receiver system, and SC receiver system can show its advantages compared to a single aperture receiver system in the case of large zenith angles. The downlink BER performances of OOK, 8-PPM, and 8-DPPM multiple apertures receiver system are decreased according to the order of 8-PPM, 8-DPPM, and OOK.

Determination of cosmic-ray primary mass on an event-by-event basis using radio detection

We present a new methodology to discriminate between light and heavy ultra-high energy cosmic-ray primaries on an event-by-event basis using information from the radio detection of extensive air showers at MHz frequencies. Similarly to other methods to determine primary cosmic ray composition, the one presented here is based on comparisons between detected radio signals and Monte Carlo simulations for multiple primary cosmic ray compositions. Unlike other methods that first reconstruct the depth of maximum shower development Xmax to relate it to the nature of the primaries, we instead infer the cosmic-ray composition directly. The method is most effective in the case of inclined showers that arrive at large zenith angles with respect to the vertical to the ground, where methods based on the determination of Xmax lose accuracy. We show that a discrimination efficiency between 65% and 80% can be reached for zenith angles θ ≳ 60∘, even when typical uncertainties in radio detection are taken into account, including shower energy uncertainty. Our methodology could in principle be applied in large and sparse radio arrays, designed with the large radio footprint of inclined showers in mind, to significantly increase the statistics of ultra-high energy cosmic-ray composition studies.

Different representations of canopy structure—A large source of uncertainty in global land surface modeling

Land surface models generally use a “mosaic” approach to represent subgrid variation in canopy structure within a given land cell in two ways: one is based on vegetation cover types (VCT) (e.g., biomes or land cover classes); the other uses plant functional types (PFT)—a further breakdown of VCTs. The two representations largely differ in their representations of vegetation composition and canopy geometries, but both are one-dimensional (1D) treatments. To isolate the effects arising from the canopy structures, idealized experiments in a simple three-dimensional (3D) canopy scenario are conducted to analyze the effects of different representations (VCT, PFT and a newly developed 3D representation) on the simulated surface fluxes. The results show that the conventional VCT and PFT representations may have large discrepancies in terms of radiation transfer, resistance and surface flux calculations, whereas the 3D representation usually has values in between or closer to one of the other representations. The discrepancies in surface flux can be attributed to differences in the radiation absorptions and resistance values of different canopy representations. The resistance values of the 3D representation are more similar to those of the VCT case. For shortwave radiation absorption at small sun zenith angles, the 3D representation shows values closer to those of the PFT case but approaches the values of the VCT case for large sun zenith angles. Sensitivity analysis identified such a large source of uncertainty resulting from different representations of canopy structure in land surface modeling, especially for the VCT and PFT representations currently being used. We recommend that proper canopy structures (at least at the crown level), as well as the corresponding physical processes, need to be incorporated in the future development of land surface models.

An Assessment of the Impacts of Cloud Vertical Heterogeneity on Global Ice Cloud Data Records From Passive Satellite Retrievals

AbstractSpaceborne passive instruments are widely used to infer long‐term ice cloud properties due to their large temporal and spatial coverage. Although observations from active instruments demonstrate ice particle variability in the vertical dimension, a pragmatic assumption made in passive cloud retrieval algorithms is that the observed scene consists of a plane‐parallel cloud. In this study, a theoretical exploration on how ice cloud vertical heterogeneity (ICVH) influences passive retrievals (i.e., cloud optical thickness, cloud effective radius, and ice water path, IWP) is implemented at the pixel scale. Specifically, with an established ice cloud profile database inferred from 1‐year Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation/CloudSat, we quantitatively estimate ICVH‐induced biases on monthly averaged cloud macrophysical and radiative properties. Results show an average underestimation (−35%) of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) monthly IWP due to the ICVH for global ice clouds over ocean. The ICVH impacts are enhanced at large IWPs (e.g., &gt; 500 g/m2) and solar zenith angles, resulting in a profound underestimation of MODIS IWP (up to −50%) in deep convective regions and middle to high‐latitude regions in the winter hemisphere. The global‐averaged ice cloudy‐sky reflected solar radiation and outgoing longwave radiation derived from MODIS retrievals are slightly overestimated, suggesting that the ICVH has little impact on cloud radiative properties. Relatively large reflected solar radiation (0.3 W/m2) and outgoing longwave radiation (0.1 W/m2) flux differences occur at high and low IWPs, respectively. The largest total flux difference (~2 W/m2), mainly contributed by shortwave part, is associated with deep convection where the typical IWP is greater than 2,000 g/m2.

The 2014 TeV γ-Ray Flare of Mrk 501 Seen with H.E.S.S.: Temporal and Spectral Constraints on Lorentz Invariance Violation

Abstract The blazar Mrk 501 (z = 0.034) was observed at very-high-energy (VHE, E ≳ 100 GeV) gamma-ray wavelengths during a bright flare on the night of 2014 June 23–24 (MJD 56832) with the H.E.S.S. phase-II array of Cherenkov telescopes. Data taken that night by H.E.S.S. at large zenith angle reveal an exceptional number of gamma-ray photons at multi-TeV energies, with rapid flux variability and an energy coverage extending significantly up to 20 TeV. This data set is used to constrain Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) using two independent channels: a temporal approach considers the possibility of an energy dependence in the arrival time of gamma-rays, whereas a spectral approach considers the possibility of modifications to the interaction of VHE gamma-rays with extragalactic background light (EBL) photons. The non-detection of energy-dependent time delays and the non-observation of deviations between the measured spectrum and that of a supposed power-law intrinsic spectrum with standard EBL attenuation are used independently to derive strong constraints on the energy scale of LIV (E QG) in the subluminal scenario for linear and quadratic perturbations in the dispersion relation of photons. For the case of linear perturbations, the 95% confidence level limits obtained are E QG,1 &gt; 3.6 × 1017 GeV using the temporal approach and E QG,1 &gt; 2.6 × 1019 GeV using the spectral approach. For the case of quadratic perturbations, the limits obtained are E QG,2 &gt; 8.5 × 1010 GeV using the temporal approach and E QG,2 &gt; 7.8 × 1011 GeV using the spectral approach.

大天顶角入射下冰云大气偏振辐射传输特性

大天顶角入射下冰云大气偏振辐射传输特性

Measurements of Horizontal Air Showers with the Auger Engineering Radio Array

The Pierre Auger Observatory is the largest observatory for the detection of cosmic rays. With the Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) we measure the emitted radio signal of extensive air showers and reconstruct properties of the primary cosmic rays. For horizontal air showers (zenith angles larger than 60°) the signal is distributed over a large area of more than several km2. Therefore, detection of air showers using a sparse radio antenna array, compatible with the 1500 m distance between the 1600 surface detector stations, is possible. The radio technique is sensitive to the electromagnetic component of air showers. Combining radio detection with particle information from the surface detector of the Observatory, which at large zenith angles mostly detects muons, allows to study the cosmic ray composition for horizontal air showers.

Extending the observation limits of Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes toward horizon

Usually the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes, used for the ground-based gamma-ray astronomy in the very high energy range 50 GeV - 50 TeV, perform air shower observations till the zenith angle of ~60 deg. Beyond that limit the column density of air increases rapidly and the Cherenkov light absorption starts playing a major role. Absence of a proper calibration method of light transmission restrained researchers performing regular measurements under zenith angles >>60 deg. We extend the observation of air showers in Cherenkov light till almost the horizon. We use an aperture photometry technique for calibrating the Cherenkov light transmission in atmosphere during observations under very large zenith angles. Along with longer in time observations of a given source, this observation technique allows one to strongly increase the collection area and the event statistics of Cherenkov telescopes for the very high energy part of the spectrum. Study of the spectra of the highest energy gamma rays from a handful of candidate sources can provide a clue for the origin of the galactic cosmic rays. We show that MAGIC very large zenith angle observations yield a collection area in excess of a square kilometer. For selected sources this is becoming comparable with the target collection area anticipated with the Cherenkov Telescope Array.

Assessing the variability and uncertainty of two-flux FAPAR measurements in a conifer-dominated forest

The estimation of the Fraction of Absorbed Active Radiation (FAPAR) and its uncertainties is key for understanding global carbon balances. This work investigates the variability and associated uncertainties of in-situ two-flux FAPAR observations attributed to changes in phenological and meteorological conditions. Specifically, we assessed influences of illumination conditions with solar zenith angle and the ratio of diffuse-to-total incident radiation, wind speed, leaf color and snow coverage on the variability of two-flux FAPAR. We assumed FAPAR acquired under diffuse light conditions to be closest to “true” FAPAR as it is not influenced by the solar zenith angle. To reveal the uncertainty of the two-flux FAPAR measurements, we investigated the difference (Δtwo-flux) between FAPAR acquired under diffuse light conditions and two-flux FAPAR acquired during a certain environmental condition (e.g. large solar zenith angle). A positive (negative) value obtained from this difference was interpreted as an indication for an underestimation (overestimation) of “true” FAPAR by the two-flux FAPAR estimate, as found in previously investigations with canopy radiative transfer models (RTM).Therefore, permanent PAR measurements were carried out 2015–2017 in a sub-alpine, spruce-dominated forest in Southern Germany using a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). FAPAR observations exhibited considerable seasonal variability (0.89 to 0.99 ± 0.03) despite the dominance of evergreen spruces. The in-situ observations confirm significant overestimation of FAPAR by up to 0.06 under solar zenith angles above 60° and by up to 0.05 during the presence of colored autumn leaves, similarly to the results obtained from previous studies with canopy RTMs. Additionally, our results indicate an effect of wind speed which we consider crucial at sites where high wind speeds occur more frequently. Overall, this study shows the potential of permanent WSN monitoring activities to ensure multi-year FAPAR observations with associated uncertainty information that are demanded to validate satellite-derived FAPAR products in forest ecosystems.

Assessment of cross-sensor vegetation index compatibility between VIIRS and MODIS using near-coincident observations

Cross-sensor compatibility of spectral vegetation indices (VIs) between Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) was investigated using their near-coincident observation pairs obtained along overlapped orbital tracks across the globe for the year 2015. The “top-of-atmosphere (TOA)” and “top-of-canopy (TOC)” normalized difference vegetation indices (NDVIs), TOC-enhanced vegetation index (EVI), and TOC two-band EVI (EVI2) were investigated. For all four VIs, VIIRS and MODIS VIs were subject to systematic differences in which VIIRS VIs were higher than their MODIS counterparts. The overall systematic differences and uncertainties (measured as mean differences and root mean square differences, respectively) were small (0.010 to 0.020 VI units and 0.015 to 0.022 VI units, respectively). TOA NDVI cross-sensor differences were neither seasonally nor view zenith angle dependent, whereas TOC NDVI cross-sensor differences slightly varied seasonally, but were not view zenith angle dependent. TOC EVI and TOC EVI2 cross-sensor differences were view zenith angle dependent, where systematic differences increased with increasing view zenith angle and, for large view zenith angles, they were higher during the summer seasons. These results support the normalization of view zenith angles as a required step to extend the MODIS VI record with VIIRS data.

Top-of-atmosphere reflectance over homogeneous Lambertian and non-Lambertian surfaces.

In this study, the effects of the Lambertian assumption on the top-of-atmosphere reflectance are evaluated through comparison with calculations derived using a more detailed bidirectional reflectance distribution function under different atmospheric, lighting, and viewing conditions. The numerical experiments are performed for background, dusty, and cloudy models of the atmosphere in spectral channels of 0.44 and 0.87μm. In the case of a background or dusty medium over the terrestrial surface, the overestimation of the top-of-atmosphere reflectance in the forward-scatter viewing direction and underestimation in the backscatter one are observed. The angular range as well as magnitude of the discrepancy is noticeably narrower and lower, respectively, when the atmosphere is more turbid and the wavelength is shorter. The use of the Lambertian assumption instead of "true" ocean reflectance leads to a significant underestimation of the top-of-atmosphere reflectance in the forward-scatter direction and a moderate overestimation of reflectance in the backscatter one. The ocean reflectance generally exhibits a high dependence on wind, which affects the reflected solar radiation distribution around the forward-scatter direction. Analysis of simulation results for an overcast sky showed that, in general, the multiple scattered radiation smoothes the anisotropy effects. However, there are conditions at which the choice of a bidirectional reflectance distribution function model is significant: in the case of thin cirrus cloudiness over the ocean at large solar zenith angles and stratus cloudiness with an optical thickness of at least 5 over a vegetation cover or ocean in the near-infrared region of the spectrum.

Satellite-based time series calibration of GF-1 WFV sensors for large view zenith angle observations

ABSTRACTA novel satellite cross-calibration method is proposed using image pairs with large view zenith angle observations. Previous studies on cross calibration have focused primarily on image pairs with nadir or small view zenith angles, while this study introduces a technique for large view zenith angle observations using bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) correction. This technique was applied to images from the wide field of view (WFV) onboard the GAO FEN-1 (GF-1) satellite and Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors as it transited over the Dunhuang site in China. A total of 62 image pairs, collected from 2013 to 2016, were used in the cross-calibration process. However, only 12 of 62 image pairs included a small view zenith angle difference (less than 10°), while the other image pairs featured a large view zenith angle difference. An experimental time series calibration was conducted using the proposed technique as well as conventional cross-calibration methods for comparison purposes. Time series calibration results also showed an attenuation trend for GF-1 WFV sensor and produced a calibration equation for day since launch (DSL). Then, the calibration equation by DSL was compared with four vicarious calibration results carried out over the Dunhuang test site from 2013 to 2016 to demonstrate its consistency. The calibration coefficients using the proposed method were also compared with the coefficients from other cross-calibration methods, taking the vicarious calibration coefficient as the reference. The comparison results showed that the calibration coefficients using the proposed method were with higher calibration accuracy and higher calibration frequency than other cross-calibration methods. The cross-calibration uncertainties caused by difference influence factors were analysed quantitatively. The results showed that the calibration uncertainties were decreased from 35.03–44.60% to 5.95–8.26% after BRDF correction, which demonstrated the proposed method to be superior for processing large view zenith angle images. These results suggest the proposed technique could be an effective new tool for future time series satellite calibration.