Abstract
The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on the new generation of NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) utilizes large focal plane arrays to capture increased spatial and spectral resolution compared to the heritage GOES imagers. Large focal plane arrays have a larger risk of image striping due to the increased number of detectors, and this has prompted the need for new calibration and validation strategies. New strategies include active tasking of special collections such as North South Scans (NSS); NSS are an adaptation of the side-slither maneuver first developed to mitigate image striping in pushbroom sensors in low Earth orbit. The collection of a NSS is designed such that all detectors in a single channel image the same location on the Earth. NSS are tasked to capture uniform vicarious calibration/validation Earth targets including cloud top, open ocean or desert, depending on the ABI channel. NSS data can be used to characterize detector level performance and detector-to-detector non-uniformity, which corresponds with image striping in the L1b and L2+ ABI products. This work introduces an image striping mitigation strategy using NSS derived relative gains. NSS data of multiple targets were collected and analyzed to derive an optimal set of relative gains, per detector per channel. These gains were applied to multiple nominal ABI full disk scenes to investigate the relative calibration performance under various scene types and over time. The resulting images were evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively and showed improved image quality in all cases. This methodology offers new capabilities to improve the image quality of large focal plane array geostationary operational environmental satellites.
An Image Striping Mitigation Strategy Using Advanced Baseline Imager Special Scans
The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on the new generation of NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) utilizes large focal plane arrays to capture increased spatial and spectral resolution compared to the heritage GOES imagers. Large focal plane arrays have a larger risk of image striping due to the increased number of detectors, and this has prompted the need for new calibration and validation strategies. New strategies include active tasking of special collections such as North South Scans (NSS); NSS are an adaptation of the side-slither maneuver first developed to mitigate image striping in pushbroom sensors in low Earth orbit. The collection of a NSS is designed such that all detectors in a single channel image the same location on the Earth. NSS are tasked to capture uniform vicarious calibration/validation Earth targets including cloud top, open ocean or desert, depending on the ABI channel. NSS data can be used to characterize detector level performance and detector-to-detector non-uniformity, which corresponds with image striping in the L1b and L2+ ABI products. This work introduces an image striping mitigation strategy using NSS derived relative gains. NSS data of multiple targets were collected and analyzed to derive an optimal set of relative gains, per detector per channel. These gains were applied to multiple nominal ABI full disk scenes to investigate the relative calibration performance under various scene types and over time. The resulting images were evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively and showed improved image quality in all cases. This methodology offers new capabilities to improve the image quality of large focal plane array geostationary operational environmental satellites.