NOAA brief’s Department of Interior’s (DOI) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Users Group on Successful UAS Calibration/Validation Assessment of Satellite.
The NOAA GOES-R and UAS Programs Brief DOI’s UAS Users Group on the successful small UAS Calibration/Validation (CAL/VAL) Assessment of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series (GOES-R). On July 5th, Frank Padula and John “JC” Coffey described that one of the main objectives of the GOES-R field campaign was to validate the SI traceability of the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI). The campaign plan included a feasibility demonstration study for new near surface UAS measurement capability that was developed to meet the challenges of validating geostationary sensors.
The Mission Team concluded that:
- UAS provide a new capability to validate satellite post-launch radiometric performance and product performance uncertainties.
- UAS capability can enhance GOES-R ABI Post-launch Validation capabilities.
- UAS deployments can support long-term monitoring of satellite sensor performance.
- Near surface UAS campaigns can be replicated numerous times throughout the year at significantly reduced costs in comparison to heritage approaches.
- UAS deployments can support characterization of the degree of uniformity within the given satellite footprint (Ideally, for all reference Cal/Val sites (i.e. fixed ground instruments) in different seasons.
- Goniometric surface measurements can be used to check components of model values used in retrieval algorithms
This joint mission was conducted through coordination with the GOES-R, NOAA UAS, National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) and University of Maryland UAS Programs.
Dr. Bruce Quirk hosts the DOI UAS Users Group which meets monthly to better coordinated DOI and Federal UAS efforts to maximize the efficiency and capabilities of unmanned systems across the agency. Individual group’s strategies, roadmaps, projects and lessons leared are briefed to share best practices and increase inter-agency collaboration.