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The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2[1] (GOME-2) represents one of the European instruments carried on board the MetOp satellite within the ESA’s “Living Planet Program”. Consisting of three flight models (FM’s) it is intended to provide long-term monitoring of atmospheric ozone and other trace gases over a time frame of 15-20 years, thus contributing valuable input towards climate and atmospheric research and providing near real-time data for use in air quality forecasting. The ambition to achieve highly accurate scientific results requires a thorough calibration and characterization of the instrument prior to launch. These calibration campaigns were performed by TNO in Delft in the Netherlands, in the “Thermal Vacuum Calibration Facility” of the institute. Due to refurbishment and / or storage of the instruments over a period of a few years, several re-calibration campaigns were necessary. These re-calibrations provided the unique opportunity to study the effects of long term storage and build up statistics on the instrument as well as the calibration methods used. During the re-calibration of the second flight model a difference was found in the radiometric calibration output, which was not understood initially. In order to understand the anomalies on the radiometry, a deep investigation was performed using numerous variations of the setup and different sources. The major contributor was identified to be a systematic error in the alignment, for which a correction was applied. Apart from this, it was found that the geometry of the sources influenced the results. Based on the calibration results combined with a theoretical geometrical hypothesis inferred that the on-ground calibration should mimic as close as possible the in-orbit geometry

Ocean surface algal blooms (OSABs) are an emerging and progressively more important phenomenon in many regional waters. Current techniques perhaps delineate the spatial distributions of OSABs from the above-atmosphere spectral radiances or Raleigh corrected radiances, so far optical spectral characterization of the OSABs has been impossible due to the inability of the atmospheric correction algorithm to account for their enhanced radiances at the near-infrared (NIR) bands. An innovative algorithm, referred as the 'OSABT', is developed to provide essential data for detection and optical spectral characterization of OSABs in coastal and open ocean waters. The algorithm is applied to MODIS-Aqua imagery from the Arabian Sea and its results are systematically studied with regard to the spectral characteristics of OSABs, its evolution stages, sub-pixel variability, and atmospheric correction issues. The effectiveness of the OSABT is tested for several other regional waters on MODIS-Aqua data, where spatial bloom characteristics are previously known, and their optical spectra are featured with enhanced radiance at the NIR bands and reduced radiance at the red bands. The spectral signatures differ for each OSABs, and correlate to their evolution stages as well. These results support future applicability of this algorithm to derive the water-leaving radiance and new indices from the OSAB pixels for qualitative and quantitative assessment of the optical and biological OSAB properties as well as their associated ecological activities (e.g., growth, aggregation, density and impacts). The advantage of the OSABT is that it can be applied rather generally to other satellite-based sensors with no short-wave infrared bands, provided that suitable radiometric calibration coefficients are determined for using the OSABT. � 2013 IEEE.

The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2[1] (GOME-2) represents one of the European instruments carried on board the MetOp satellite within the ESA’s “Living Planet Program”. Consisting of three flight models (FM’s) it is intended to provide long-term monitoring of atmospheric ozone and other trace gases over a time frame of 15-20 years, thus contributing valuable input towards climate and atmospheric research and providing near real-time data for use in air quality forecasting. The ambition to achieve highly accurate scientific results requires a thorough calibration and characterization of the instrument prior to launch. These calibration campaigns were performed by TNO in Delft in the Netherlands, in the “Thermal Vacuum Calibration Facility” of the institute. Due to refurbishment and / or storage of the instruments over a period of a few years, several re-calibration campaigns were necessary. These re-calibrations provided the unique opportunity to study the effects of long term storage and build up statistics on the instrument as well as the calibration methods used. During the re-calibration of the second flight model a difference was found in the radiometric calibration output, which was not understood initially. In order to understand the anomalies on the radiometry, a deep investigation was performed using numerous variations of the setup and different sources. The major contributor was identified to be a systematic error in the alignment, for which a correction was applied. Apart from this, it was found that the geometry of the sources influenced the results. Based on the calibration results combined with a theoretical geometrical hypothesis inferred that the on-ground calibration should mimic as close as possible the in-orbit geometry

The OMI instrument is an ultraviolet-visible imaging spectrograph that uses two-dimensional CCD detectors to register both the spectrum and the swath perpendicular to the flight direction with a 115° wide swath, which enables global daily ground coverage with high spatial resolution. This paper presents a selection of in-flight radiometric and CCD detector calibration and performance monitoring results since the launch in July 2004. From these examples it will be shown that OMI is performing very well after more than four years in orbit. It is shown how the OMI irradiance measurement data have been used to derive a high resolution solar reference spectrum with good radiometric calibration, good wavelength calibration and high spectral sampling. The surface reflectance climatology derived from three years of in-orbit OMI measurement data is presented and discussed. The OMI mission may possibly be extended in 2009 for another two or four years, depending on the performance of the instrument. By 2013-2014 OMI on EOS-Aura and SCIAMACHY on ENVISAT will have reached more that twice their anticipated lifetimes. In order to guarantee continuity of Earth atmosphere tropospheric and climate measurement data new instrumentation shall be available around that time. A successor of OMI and SCIAMACHY, named TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), scheduled for launch by the end of 2013, is discussed in this paper.

The present paper describes the challenging diffuser design and verification activities of TNO under contract of a customer for an earth observation instrument with observation conditions that require feasible BRDF under large angles of incidence of up to 70° with respect to the surface normal. Not only the design though but also the verification of the diffuser performance under such angles including out-of-plane , i.e. angle theta detection of the scattered light, was an essential activity to be executed. In this paper we will summarize the R&D activities with respect to diffuser design and verification that were recently carried out at TNO and present its applicability to current and future earth observation missions with challenging observation conditions and thus challenging diffuser requirements under high illumination angles.

The present paper describes the challenging diffuser design and verification activities of TNO under contract of a customer for an earth observation instrument with observation conditions that require feasible BRDF under large angles of incidence of up to 70° with respect to the surface normal. Not only the design though but also the verification of the diffuser performance under such angles including out-of-plane , i.e. angle theta detection of the scattered light, was an essential activity to be executed. In this paper we will summarize the R&D activities with respect to diffuser design and verification that were recently carried out at TNO and present its applicability to current and future earth observation missions with challenging observation conditions and thus challenging diffuser requirements under high illumination angles.

METIS is an innovative inverted occulted solar coronagraph capable of obtaining for the first time simultaneous imaging of the full corona in linearly polarized visible -light (580 -640 nm) and narrow -band (± 10 nm ) ultraviolet H I Ly -. nm). It has been selected to fly aboa rd the Solar Orbiter 1 spacecraft , whose launch is foreseen in July 201 7. Thanks to its own capabilities and exploiting the peculiar opportunities offered by the Solar Orbiter planned orbit, METIS will address some of the still open issues in understanding t he physical processes in the corona a nd inner heliosphere. The Solar Orbiter Nominal Mission Phase (NMP) will be characterized by three scientific observing wind ows p er orbit and METIS will perform at least one in -flight cal ibration per observing window . The two imaging channels of METIS will be calibrated on ground and periodically checked, ver ified and re -calibrated in -flight. In particular, r adiometric calibration images will be needed to determine the absolute brightness of the solar corona . For UV radiometric calibration a set of targets is represented by continuum -emitting early type bright stars (e.g. A an d B spectral types) whose photosphere s produce a bright far -ultraviolet continuum spectrum stable over long timescales. These stars represent an important reference standard not only fo r METIS in -flight calibrations but also for other Solar Orbiter instrument s and they will be crucial for instruments cross -calibrations as well. For VL radiometric calibration , a set of linearly polarized stars will be used . These targets shall have a minimum degree of linear polarization ( DoLP > 5%) and a detectable magnitude , compatible with the instrument integration times constrained by the desir ed S/N ratio and the characteristics of the spacecraft orbit dynamics . Keywords: Solar Coronagraph , Radiometric Calibrations , UV C orona radiances, pol -VL Corona r adiances, UV reference Stars, pol -VL reference Stars, In -flight C alibrations. *mauro @arcetri.astro.it; phone +39 055 275 5213 ; www.arcetri.astro.it

Earth observation techniques intended for archaeological research, such as satellite images and ground geophysical surveys are well established in the literature. In contrast, low altitude airborne systems for supporting archaeological research are still very limited. The ICAROS project, funded by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, aims to develop an airborne system for archaeological investigations. The system will incorporate both a GER 1500 field spectroradiometer and NIR camera in a balloon system operated from the ground. The GER 1500 field spectroradiometer has the capability to record reflectance values from 400 nm up to 1050 nm (blue/green/red and NIR band). The Field of View (FOV) of the instrument is 4 while a calibrated spectralon panel will be used in order to minimize illumination errors during the data collection. Existing atmospheric conditions will be monitored using sun-photometer and meteorological station. The overall methodology of the project and the preliminary results from different cases studies in Cyprus are presented and discussed in this paper. Some practical problems are also discussed and the overall results are compared with satellite and ground measurements. Spectroradiometric measurements and NIR images will be taken from different heights from the balloon system. The results will be compared with different satellite images. 2012 SPIE.

The pre-launch characterization and calibration of remote sensing instruments should be planned and carried out in conjunction with their design and development to meet the mission requirements. The onboard calibrators such as blackbodies and the sensors such as spectral radiometers should be characterized and calibrated using SI traceable standards. In the case of earth remote sensing, this allows inter-comparison and intercalibration of different sensors in space to create global time series of climate records of high accuracy where some inevitable data gaps can be easily bridged. The recommended best practice guidelines for this pre-launch effort is presented based on experience gained at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) programs over the past two decades. The currently available radiometric standards and calibration facilities at NIST serving the remote sensing community are described. Examples of best practice calibrations and intercomparisons to build SI (international System of Units) traceable uncertainty budget in the instrumentation used for preflight satellite sensor calibration and validation are presented.