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The NOAA-20 Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) is one of the five instruments in the US Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) program. Like the first OMPS instrument [1],[2], the N20 OMPS contains two advanced nadir viewing hyper-spectral instruments, the Nadir Profiler and the Nadir Mapper, to track the health of the ozone layer via measurements the concentration of ozone in the Earth’s atmosphere. This paper presents the NOAA-20 OMPS in-flight spectral calibration through solar observations and Earth views. Using a working solar diffuser and a reference solar diffuser, changes in the instruments’ wavelength registration are determined through the OMPS solar calibrations. The observed sensor degradation at the shortest wavelengths is less than 0.5% for the sensor optics, but in excess of 1.0% for the OMPS working solar diffuser. The absolute irradiance calibration uncertainties meet system requirement of 7% for most of the channels. The in-flight sensor wavelength variation due to thermal-optical influence is less than 0.02 nm, which could cause about 1.6% error, not compliant with a 2% allocation, so a routine wavelength calibration will take place to accommodate the exceedance.

Imaging radiometers such as the advanced baseline imager and the advanced Himawari imager on the new generation geostationary environmental satellites provide new opportunities for several non-meteorological applications. Examples of three such applications in fire detection, monitoring atmospheric aerosols for air quality and modelling downwelling solar radiation for power plants are presented here.

In this work, the current performance of the calibrated Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Cross-track Infrared Sensor (CrIS) observations is reported. The CrIS instrument is currently on-board the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) and NOAA-20 spacecraft, and planned for the JPSS-2, -3 and -4 satellites. Presently, calibrated and validated CrIS observations, in the form of sensor data record (SDR) products, are being assimilated by operational NWP models and atmospheric retrieval systems. CrIS measurements from SNPP and NOAA-20 are expected to improve our understanding of the dynamics of the atmosphere due to the higher temporal and spatial coverage resulting from optimally blending the hyperspectral Earth observations. This work also reports recent improvements performed on the CrIS SDR products, including: 1) the implementation of the polarization correction, 2) the optimization of the spike detection and correction algorithm, and 3) the optimization of the lunar intrusion algorithm.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers (AVHRR) which has been flying on polar orbiting weather satellites since 1978 provide the longest global daily record of Earth observations. Data from AVHRRs have been vital for studying global change through their remote sensing observations of land, oceans, atmosphere and the cryosphere. MetOp-C satellites that was launched successful this year carries the last AVHRR. This paper reviews the glorious contributions of AVHRR during the past 40 years.