Quality Assessment and Collection V1.1 Reprocessing of the Suomi NPP VIIRS LAND Records

Abstract:

The Land Product Evaluation and Algorithm Testing Element (PEATE) is an important element of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The primary goals of NASA’s Land PEATE are to assess the quality of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Land operational products made by the Interface Data Processing System (IDPS), and to recommend improvements to the operational algorithms to meet NASA’s Land science needs. The Land PEATE uses a version of the MODIS Adaptive Processing System (MODAPS), NPPDAPS, which has been modified to run the IDPS operational algorithms, as well as software provided by the NASA SNPP Land Science Team. Since the early pre-launch period (c. 2009) the Land PEATE has used the MODIS Land Data Operational Product Evaluation (LDOPE) team for evaluation of the data records generated by NPPDAPS.
In June 2014, Land PEATE completed Collection V1.1 reprocessing of the SNPP VIIRS Land products from the beginning (Jan 19, 2012) of the SNPP mission to current day using the best of the IDPS operational and NASA Land science team provided algorithms. The processing used the refined LUTs provided by the NASA VIIRS Calibration Support Team (VCST) for the L1B Sensor Data Records (SDR), including LUTs for calibration and stray light correction of the VIIRS Day/Night Band. In addition to generating the operational SDRs, Intermediate Products (IPs), and Environmental Data Records (EDRs) this reprocessing also produced Diagnostics Data Records, MODIS heritage L3 gridded products using the VIIRS observations. This paper describes approaches used to assess the quality of the products from operational processing and reprocessing of VIIRS records at Land PEATE. The paper also presents results from inter-comparison of records from this reprocessing with the MODIS heritage products. Our analysis verified that MODIS quality data records can be produced using the VIIRS observations, however with additional refinement to the quality flags.