OMPS Limb Profiler instrument performance assessment

Abstract

Following the successful launch of the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) aboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) spacecraft, the NASA OMPS Limb team began an evaluation of instrument and data product performance. The focus of this paper is the instrument performance in relation to the original design criteria. Performance that is closer to expectations increases the likelihood that limb scatter measurements by SNPP OMPS and successor instruments can form the basis for accurate long-term monitoring of ozone vertical profiles. The team finds that the Limb instrument operates mostly as designed and basic performance meets or exceeds the original design criteria. Internally scattered stray light and sensor pointing knowledge are two design challenges with the potential to seriously degrade performance. A thorough prelaunch characterization of stray light supports software corrections that are accurate to within 1% in radiances up to 60 km for the wavelengths used in deriving ozone. Residual stray light errors at 1000 nm, which is useful in retrievals of stratospheric aerosols, currently exceed 10%. Height registration errors in the range of 1 km to 2 km have been observed that cannot be fully explained by known error sources. An unexpected thermal sensitivity of the sensor also causes wavelengths and pointing to shift each orbit in the northern hemisphere. Spectral shifts of as much as 0.5 nm in the ultraviolet and 5 nm in the visible, and up to 0.3 km shifts in registered height, must be corrected in ground processing.

Postlaunch performance of the Suomi National Polar‐orbiting Partnership Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) nadir sensors

“…Although analysis of the LP sensor is detailed in a companion paper [Jaross et al, 2014], many aspects of its performance are similar to the performance of the nadir sensors; since the analysis of these aspects results in similar conclusions, they are therefore covered here. Measurements from the NM and NP sensors are provided, via the Sensor Data Record (SDR) algorithm, to the respective total column and ozone profile retrieval algorithms for the creation of the NM total column Environmental Data Record (EDR) and NP ozone profile intermediate product (IP).…”

The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) Limb Profiler (LP) Version 1 Aerosol Extinction Retrieval Algorithm: Theoretical Basis

“…OMPS LP stray light acts roughly as an additive effect (Jaross et al, 2014), and therefore affects the measured radiance at h n much more strongly than the other radiances that form y, due to the roughly exponential decrease of I with tangent height. Internal analysis suggests that this error is 1%, and therefore produces fractional error in x = 0.01/y.…”

“…Dispersion is provided by 25 a prism, which provides images whose spectral resolution varies greatly with wavelength (from ≈ 1 nm in the UV to ≈ 30 nm in the NIR). For further information about the OMPS LP instrument characteristics, please consult Flynn et al (2006), Rault andLoughman (2013) and Jaross et al (2014).…”

Joint Polar Satellite System: The United States next generation civilian polar‐orbiting environmental satellite system

“…It has dual transmissive calibration diffusers. Limb-scattered solar radiation is measured to determine ozone profiles [Jaross et al, 2013]. The sensor specification for OMPS nadir mapper, OMPS nadir profiler, and OMPS limb are given in Tables 4-6, respectively.…”