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Cloud and Sun-Glint Statistics Derived from GOES and MODIS Observations Over the Intra-Americas Sea for GEO-CAPE Mission Planning

Knowledge of cloud cover, frequency, and duration is not only important to study cloud dynamics, but also critical in determining when and where to take ocean measurements from geostationary orbits such as the Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) mission due to the challenges in achieving complete hemispheric coverage of coastal oceans, estuaries, and inland waters at hourly frequency. Using GOES hourly measurements at 4 km nadir resolution between 2006 and 2011, the number of cloud-free hourly observations per day (N(sub cf)) for solar zenith angle Theta(sub 0) less than 80 degrees was estimated for each 0.1 degree location of the Intra-Americas Sea. The number of Sun-glint-affected hourly observations per day [Ns(sub sg)] was also calculated based on the planned GEO-CAPE observation geometry and realistic wind speed. High-latitude and equatorial oceans showed the lowest N(sub cf) (less than 2.4) in all climatological months, and highest N(sub cf) was observed in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and Caribbean (greater than 4.5). Different regions showed differences in seasonality of cloud-free conditions and also showed differences in the hour of a day at which the satellite observations would have the maximal cloud-free and glint-free probability (Temperature maximum). Cloud cover from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 1 km measurements are greater than 10 degrees higher than those from the MODIS 250 m measurements, supporting ocean color missions at subkilometer resolutions to enhance both spatial coverage and temporal frequency. These findings provide valuable information for GEO-CAPE mission planning to maximize its science value through minimizing the impacts of clouds and Sun glint.

Feng, Lian↗

MODIS Aqua Optical Throughput Degradation Impact on Relative Spectral Response and Calibration on Ocean Color Products

Since Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Aqua's launch in 2002, the radiometric system gains of the reflective solar bands have been degrading, indicating changes in the systems optical throughput. To estimate the optical throughput degradation, the electronic gain changes were estimated and removed from the measured system gain. The derived optical throughput degradation shows a rate that is much faster in the shorter wavelengths than the longer wavelengths. The wavelength-dependent optical throughput degradation modulated the relative spectral response (RSR) of the bands. In addition, the optical degradation is also scan angle-dependent due to large changes in response versus the scan angle over time. We estimated the modulated RSR as a function of time and scan angles and its impacts on sensor radiometric calibration for the ocean science. Our results show that the calibration bias could be up to 1.8 % for band 8 (412 nm) due to its larger out-of-band response. For the other ocean bands, the calibration biases are much smaller with magnitudes at least one order smaller.

Lee, Shihyan↗

Quantifying Black Carbon Deposition Over the Greenland Ice Sheet from Forest Fires in Canada

Black carbon (BC) concentrations observed in 22 snowpits sampled in the northwest sector of the Greenland ice sheet in April 2014 have allowed us to identify a strong and widespread BC aerosol deposition event, which was dated to have accumulated in the pits from two snow storms between 27 July and 2 August 2013. This event comprises a significant portion (57 on average across all pits) of total BC deposition over 10 months (July 2013 to April 2014). Here we link this deposition event to forest fires burning in Canada during summer 2013 using modeling and remote sensing tools. Aerosols were detected by both the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (on board CALIPSO) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Aqua) instruments during transport between Canada and Greenland. We use high-resolution regional chemical transport modeling (WRF-Chem) combined with high-resolution fire emissions (FINNv1.5) to study aerosol emissions, transport, and deposition during this event. The model captures the timing of the BC deposition event and shows that fires in Canada were the main source of deposited BC. However, the model underpredicts BC deposition compared to measurements at all sites by a factor of 2100. Underprediction of modeled BC deposition originates from uncertainties in fire emissions and model treatment of wet removal of aerosols. Improvements in model descriptions of precipitation scavenging and emissions from wildfires are needed to correctly predict deposition, which is critical for determining the climate impacts of aerosols that originate from fires.

albedo↗

Assessment of Terra MODIS On-Orbit Polarization Sensitivity Using Pseudoinvariant Desert Sites

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is currently flying on NASA's Earth Observing System Terra and Aqua satellites, launched in 1999 and 2002, respectively. MODIS reflective solar bands in the visible wavelength range are known to be sensitive to polarized light based on prelaunch polarization sensitivity tests. After about five years of on-orbit operations, it was discovered that the polarization sensitivity at short wavelengths had shown a noticeable increase. In this paper, we examine the impact of polarization on measured top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance based on MODIS Collection-6 L1B over pseudo invariant desert sites. The standard polarization correction equation is used in combination with simulated at-sensor radiances using the second simulation of a satellite signal in the Solar Spectrum, Vector Radiative Transfer Code (6SV). We ignore the polarization contribution from the surface and a ratio approach is used for both 6SV-derived in put parameters and observed TOA reflectance. Results indicate that significant gain corrections up to 25% are required near the end of scan for the 412 and 443 nm bands. The polarization correction reduces the seasonal fluctuations in reflectance trends and mirror side ratios from 30% and 12% to 10% and 5%, respectively, for the two bands. Comparison of the effectiveness of the polarization correction with the results from the NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group shows a good agreement in the corrected reflectance trending results and their seasonal fluctuations.

Wu, Aisheng↗

Model Development for MODIS Thermal Band Electronic Crosstalk

MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) has 36 bands. Among them, 16 thermal emissive bands covering a wavelength range from 3.8 to 14.4 m. After 16 years on-orbit operation, the electronic crosstalk of a few Terra MODIS thermal emissive bands developed substantial issues that cause biases in the EV brightness temperature measurements and surface feature contamination. The crosstalk effects on band 27 with center wavelength at 6.7 m and band 29 at 8.5 m increased significantly in recent years, affecting downstream products such as water vapor and cloud mask. The crosstalk effect is evident in the near-monthly scheduled lunar measurements, from which the crosstalk coefficients can be derived. The development of an alternative approach is very helpful for independent verification.In this work, a physical model was developed to assess the crosstalk impact on calibration as well as in Earth view brightness temperature retrieval. This model was applied to Terra MODIS band 29 empirically to correct the Earth brightness temperature measurements. In the model development, the detectors nonlinear response is considered. The impact of the electronic crosstalk is assessed in two steps. The first step consists of determining the impact on calibration using the on-board blackbody (BB). Due to the detectors nonlinear response and large background signal, both linear and nonlinear coefficients are affected by the crosstalk from sending bands. The second step is to calculate the effects on the Earth view brightness temperature retrieval. The effects include those from affected calibration coefficients and the contamination of Earth view measurements. This model links the measurement bias with crosstalk coefficients, detector non-linearity, and the ratio of Earth measurements between the sending and receiving bands. The correction of the electronic cross talk can be implemented empirically from the processed bias at different brightness temperature. The implementation can be done through two approaches. As routine calibration assessment for thermal infrared bands, the trending over select Earth scenes is processed for all the detectors in a band and the band averaged bias is derived at a certain time. In this case, the correction of an affected band can be made using the regression of the model with band averaged bias and then corrections of detector differences are applied. The second approach requires the trending for individual detectors and the bias for each detector is used for regression with the model. A test using the first approach was made for Terra MODIS band 29 with the biases derived from long-term trending of brightness temperature over ocean and Dome-C.

Chang, Tiejun↗

Contribution of Lake-Effect Snow to the Catskill Mountains Snowpack

Meltwater from snow that falls in the Catskill Mountains in southern New York contributes to reservoirs that supply drinking water to approximately nine million people in New York City. Using the NOAA National Ice Centers Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS) 4km snow maps, we have identified at least 32 lake-effect (LE) storms emanating from Lake Erie andor Lake Ontario that deposited snow in the CatskillDelaware Watershed in the Catskill Mountains of southern New York State between 2004 and 2017. This represents a large underestimate of the contribution of LE snow to the Catskills snowpack because many of the LE snowstorms are not visible in the IMS snow maps when they travel over snow-covered terrain. Most of the LE snowstorms that we identified originate from Lake Ontario but quite a few originate from both Erie and Ontario, and a few from Lake Erie alone. Using satellite, meteorological and reanalysis data we identify conditions that contributed to LE snowfall in the Catskills. Clear skies following some of the storms permitted measurement of the extent of snow cover in the watershed using multiple satellite sensors. IMS maps tend to overestimate the extent of snow compared to MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Landsat-derived snow-cover extent maps. Using this combination of satellite and meteorological data, we can begin to quantify the important contribution of LE snow to the Catskills Mountain snowpack. Changes that are predicted in LE snowfall from the Great Lakes could impact the distribution of rain vs snow in the Catskills which may affect future reservoir operations in the NYC Water Supply System.

Lake Ontario↗

Validation of High-Resolution MAIAC Aerosol Product over South America

Multiangle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) is a new Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) algorithm that combines time series approach and image processing to derive surface reflectance and atmosphere products, such as aerosol optical depth (AOD) and columnar water vapor (CWV). The quality assessment of MAIAC AOD at 1 km resolution is still lacking across South America. In the present study, critical assessment of MAIAC AOD(sub 550) was performed using ground-truth data from 19 Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites over South America. Additionally, we validated the MAIAC CWV retrievals using the same AERONET sites. In general, MAIAC AOD Terra/Aqua retrievals show high agreement with ground-based measurements, with a correlation coefficient (R) close to unity (R(sub Terra):0.956 and R(sub Aqua):0.949). MAIAC accuracy depends on the surface properties and comparisons revealed high confidence retrievals over cropland, forest, savanna, and grassland covers, where more than 2/3 (approximately 66%) of retrievals are within the expected error (EE = +/-(0.05 + 0.05 × AOD)) and R exceeding 0.86. However, AOD retrievals over bright surfaces show lower correlation than those over vegetated areas. Both MAIAC Terra and Aqua retrievals are similarly comparable to AERONET AOD over the MODIS lifetime (small bias offset approximately 0.006). Additionally, MAIAC CWV presents quantitative information with R approximatley 0.97 and more than 70% of retrievals within error (+/-15%). Nonetheless, the time series validation shows an upward bias trend in CWV Terra retrievals and systematic negative bias for CWV Aqua. These results contribute to a comprehensive evaluation of MAIAC AOD retrievals as a new atmospheric product for future aerosol studies over South America.

Martins, V. S.↗

The Spectral Invariant Approximation Within Canopy Radiative Transfer to Support the Use of the EPIC/DSCOVR Oxygen B-band for Monitoring Vegetation

EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) is a 10-channel spectroradiometer onboard DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) spacecraft. In addition to the near-infrared (NIR, 780 nm) and the 'red' (680 nm) channels, EPIC also has the O2 A-band (764+/-0.2 nm) and B-band (687.75+/-0.2 nm). The EPIC Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is defined as the difference between NIR and 'red' channels normalized to their sum. However, the use of the O2 B-band instead of the 'red' channel mitigates the effect of atmosphere on remote sensing of surface reflectance because O2 reduces contribution from the radiation scattered by the atmosphere. Applying the radiative transfer theory and the spectral invariant approximation to EPIC observations, the paper provides supportive arguments for using the O2 band instead of the red channel for monitoring vegetation dynamics. Our results suggest that the use of the O2 B-band enhances the sensitivity of the top-of-atmosphere NDVI to the presence of vegetation.

Alexander Marshak↗

The SMAP Level-4 ECO Project: Linking the Terrestrial Water and Carbon Cycles

The SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) Level-4 projects aims to develop a fully coupled hydrology-vegetation data assimilation algorithm to generate improved estimates of modeled hydrological fields and carbon fluxes. This includes using the new NASA Catchment-CN (Catchment-Carbon-Nitrogen) model, which combines the Catchment land surface hydrology model with dynamic vegetation components from the Community Land Model version 4 (CLM4). As such, Catchment-CN allows a more realistic, fully coupled feedback between the land hydrology and the biosphere. The L4 ECO project further aims to inform the model through the assimilation of Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) brightness temperature observations as well as observations of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR). Preliminary results show that the assimilation of SMAP observations leads to consistent improvements in the model soil moisture skill. An evaluation of the Catchment-CN modeled vegetation characteristics showed that a calibration of the model's vegetation parameters is required before an assimilation of MODIS FPAR observations is feasible.

MODIS↗

Mapping Impact of Urbanization in the Continental U.S. From 2001-2020

We combine Landsat and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products to create observation-based and scenario-based maps characterizing distant-past, recent-past, present, and near-future land cover and land use change in the continental United States at a 5km scale. These maps show the nature and impact of urbanization across the continental U.S. from 2001 to 2020 with focus on the relationship between population and urban growth and how it varies across the U.S. The influence of culture on urbanization characteristics are revealed in the results at city-scale, helping to provide insight into both past and projected urbanization trends.

Bounoua, Lahouari↗

Mapping Impact of Urbanization in the Continental U.S. from 2001 - 2020

We combine Landsat and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products to create observation-based and scenario-based maps characterizing distant-past, recent-past, present, and near-future land cover and land use change in the continental United States at a 5km scale. These maps show the nature and impact of urbanization across the continental U.S. from 2001 to 2020 with focus on the relationship between population and urban growth and how it varies across the U.S. The influence of culture on urbanization characteristics are revealed in the results at city-scale, helping to provide insight into both past and projected urbanization trends.

Bounoua, Lahouari↗

Estimating Surface Soil Moisture from SMAP Observations Using a Neural Network Technique

A Neural Network (NN) algorithm was developed to estimate global surface soil moisture for April 2015 to March 2017 with a 2-3 day repeat frequency using passive microwave observations from the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite, surface soil temperatures from the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System Model version 5 (GEOS-5) land modeling system, and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer-based vegetation water content. The NN was trained on GEOS-5 soil moisture target data, making the NN estimates consistent with the GEOS-5 climatology, such that they may ultimately be assimilated into this model without further bias correction. Evaluated against in situ soil moisture measurements, the average unbiased root mean square error (ubRMSE), correlation and anomaly correlation of the NN retrievals were 0.037 m(exp. 3)m(exp. -3), 0.70 and 0.66, respectively, against SMAP core validation site measurements and 0.026 m(exp. 3)m(exp. -3), 0.58 and 0.48, respectively, against International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN) measurements. At the core validation sites, the NN retrievals have a significantly higher skill than the GEOS-5 model estimates and a slightly lower correlation skill than the SMAP Level-2 Passive (L2P) product. The feasibility of the NN method was reflected by a lower ubRMSE compared to the L2P retrievals as well as a higher skill when ancillary parameters in physically-based retrievals were uncertain. Against ISMN measurements, the skill of the two retrieval products was more comparable. A triple collocation analysis against Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) and Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) soil moisture retrievals showed that the NN and L2P retrieval errors have a similar spatial distribution, but the NN retrieval errors are generally lower in densely vegetated regions and transition zones.

Soil Moisture Remote Sensing↗

Early Season Large-Area Winter Crop Mapping Using MODIS NDVI Data, Growing Degree Days Information and a Gaussian Mixture Model

Knowledge on geographical location and distribution of crops at global, national and regional scales is an extremely valuable source of information applications. Traditional approaches to crop mapping using remote sensing data rely heavily on reference or ground truth data in order to train/calibrate classification models. As a rule, such models are only applicable to a single vegetation season and should be recalibrated to be applicable for other seasons. This paper addresses the problem of early season large-area winter crop mapping using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series and growing degree days (GDD) information derived from the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2) product. The model is based on the assumption that winter crops have developed biomass during early spring while other crops (spring and summer) have no biomass. As winter crop development is temporally and spatially non-uniform due to the presence of different agro-climatic zones, we use GDD to account for such discrepancies. A Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is applied to discriminate winter crops from other crops (spring and summer). The proposed method has the following advantages: low input data requirements, robustness, applicability to global scale application and can provide winter crop maps 1.5-2 months before harvest. The model is applied to two study regions, the State of Kansas in the US and Ukraine, and for multiple seasons (2001-2014). Validation using the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Crop Data Layer (CDL) for Kansas and ground measurements for Ukraine shows that accuracies of greater than 90% can be achieved in mapping winter crops 1.5-2 months before harvest. Results also show good correspondence to official statistics with average coefficients of determination R(exp. 2) greater than 0.85.

mixture model↗

Overview of NASA's MODIS and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) snow-cover Earth System Data Records

Knowledge of the distribution, extent, duration and timing of snowmelt is critical for characterizing the Earth's climate system and its changes. As a result, snow cover is one of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) essential climate variables (ECVs). Consistent, long-term datasets of snow cover are needed to study interannual variability and snow climatology. The NASA snow-cover datasets generated from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra and Aqua spacecraft and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) are NASA Earth System Data Records (ESDR). The objective of the snow-cover detection algorithms is to optimize the accuracy of mapping snow-cover extent (SCE) and to minimize snow-cover detection errors of omission and commission using automated, globally applied algorithms to produce SCE data products. Advancements in snow-cover mapping have been made with each of the four major reprocessings of the MODIS data record, which extends from 2000 to the present. MODIS Collection 6 (C6) and VIIRS Collection 1 (C1) represent the state-of-the-art global snow cover mapping algorithms and products for NASA Earth science. There were many revisions made in the C6 algorithms which improved snow-cover detection accuracy and information content of the data products. These improvements have also been incorporated into the NASA VIIRS snow cover algorithms for C1. Both information content and usability were improved by including the Normalized Snow Difference Index (NDSI) and a quality assurance (QA) data array of algorithm processing flags in the data product, along with the SCE map.The increased data content allows flexibility in using the datasets for specific regions and end-user applications.Though there are important differences between the MODIS and VIIRS instruments (e.g., the VIIRS 375m native resolution compared to MODIS 500 m), the snow detection algorithms and data products are designed to be as similar as possible so that the 16C year MODIS ESDR of global SCE can be extended into the future with the S-NPP VIIRS snow products and with products from future Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) platforms.These NASA datasets are archived and accessible through the NASA Distributed Active Archive Center at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Earth System Data Record↗

Automated Mapping of Flood Events in the Mississippi River Basin Utilizing NASA Earth Observations

The Mississippi River Basin is the fourth largest drainage basin in the world, and is susceptible to multi-level flood events caused by heavy precipitation, snow melt, and changes in water table levels. Conducting flood analysis during periods of disaster is a challenging endeavor for NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the U.S. Geological Survey's Hazards Data Distribution Systems (USGS HDDS) due to heavily-involved research and lack of manpower. During this project, an automated script was generated that performs high-level flood analysis to relieve the workload for end-users. The script incorporated Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) tiles and utilized computer-learning techniques to generate accurate water extent maps. The script referenced the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land-water mask to isolate areas of flood induced waters. These areas were overlaid onto the National Land Cover Database's (NLCD) land cover data, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's LandScan data, and Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data (HIFLD) to determine the classification of areas impacted and the population density affected by flooding. The automated algorithm was initially tested on the September 2016 flood event that occurred in Upper Mississippi River Basin, and was then further tested on multiple flood events within the Mississippi River Basin. This script allows end users to create their own flood probability and impact maps for disaster mitigation and recovery efforts.

Bartkovich, Mercedes↗

MODIS Retrieval of Aerosol Optical Depth over Turbid Coastal Water

We present a new approach to retrieve Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) over the turbid coastal water. This approach supplements the operational Dark Target (DT) aerosol retrieval algorithm that currently does not conduct AOD retrieval in shallow waters that have visible sediments or sea-floor (i.e., Class 2 waters). Over the global coastal water regions in cloud-free conditions, coastal screening leads to approx. 20% unavailability of AOD retrievals. Here, we refine the MODIS DT algorithm by considering that water-leaving radiance at 2.1 microns to be negligible regardless of water turbidity, and therefore the 2.1 microns reflectance at the top of the atmosphere is sensitive to both change of fine-mode and coarse-mode AODs. By assuming that the aerosol single scattering properties over coastal turbid water are similar to those over the adjacent open-ocean pixels, the new algorithm can derive AOD over these shallow waters. The test algorithm yields approx. 18% more MODIS-AERONET collocated pairs for six AERONET stations in the coastal water regions. Furthermore, comparison of the new retrieval with these AERONET observations show that the new AOD retrievals have equivalent or better accuracy than those retrieved by the MODIS operational algorithm's over coastal land and non-turbid coastal water product. Combining the new retrievals with the existing MODIS operational retrievals yields an overall improvement of AOD over those coastal water regions. Most importantly, this refinement extends the spatial and temporal coverage of MODIS AOD retrievals over the coastal regions where 60% of human population resides. This expanded coverage is crucial for better understanding of impact of anthropogenic aerosol particles on coastal air quality and climate.

Retrieval↗

Importance of Calibration/Validation Traceability for Multi-Sensor Imaging Spectrometry Applications

Knowledge of calibration traceability is essential for ensuring the quality of data products relying on multiple sensors and especially true for imaging spectrometers. The current work discusses the expected impact that imaging spectrometers have in ensuring radiometric traceability for both multispectral and hyperspectral products. The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory Pathfinder mission is used to show the role that high-accuracy imaging spectrometers can play in understanding test sites used for vicarious calibration of sensors. The associated Solar, Lunar for Absolute Reflectance Imaging Spectroradiometer calibration demonstration system is used to illustrate recent advances in laboratory radiometric calibration approaches that will allow both the use of imaging spectrometers as calibration standards as well as to ensure the consistency of the multiple imaging spectrometers expected to be on orbit in the next decade.

imagin↗

Calibration of the DSCOVR EPIC Visible and NIR Channels using MODIS Terra and Aqua Data and EPIC Lunar Observations

The unique position of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) at the Lagrange 1 point makes an important addition to the data from currently operating low Earth orbit observing instruments. EPIC instrument does not have an onboard calibration facility. One approach to its calibration is to compare EPIC observations to the measurements from polar-orbiting radiometers. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is a natural choice for such comparison due to its well-established calibration record and wide use in remote sensing. We use MODIS Aqua and Terra L1B 1km reflectances to infer calibration coefficients for four EPIC visible and NIR channels: 443, 551, 680 and 780 nm. MODIS and EPIC measurements made between June 2015 and 2016 are employed for comparison. We first identify favorable MODIS pixels with scattering angle matching temporarily collocated EPIC observations. Each EPIC pixel is then spatially collocated to a subset of the favorable MODIS pixels within 25 km radius. Standard deviation of the selected MODIS pixels as well as of the adjacent EPIC pixels is used to find the most homogeneous scenes. These scenes are then used to determine calibration coefficients using a linear regression between EPIC counts/sec and reflectances in the close MODIS spectral channels. We present thus inferred EPIC calibration coefficients and discuss sources of uncertainties. The lunar EPIC observations are used to calibrate EPIC O2 absorbing channels (688 and 764 nm), assuming that there is a small difference between moon reflectances separated by approx.10 nm in wavelength provided the calibration factors of the red (680 nm) and near-IR (780 nm) are known from comparison between EPIC and MODIS.

Geogdzhayev, Igor V.↗