Progress on Alternative Method of the on-orbit RVS Characterization for MODIS Reflective Solar Bands

MODIS Reflective Solar Bands (RSB) are calibrated on-orbit using its onboard calibrators, including a Solar Diffuser (SD), a Solar Diffuser Stability Monitor (SDSM), and a Spectroradiometric Calibration Assembly (SRCA). A Space View (SV) port is used to provide a background reference, and also facilitate near monthly lunar observations via a spacecraft roll. In every scan, the earth's surface, SV and onboard calibrators are viewed via a two sided scan mirror, whose reflectance depends on the angles of the incidence (AOI) as well as the wavelength of the incident light. Response versus Scan angle (RVS) is defined as a dependence function of the scan mirror's reflectance over AOI. An initial RVS for each RSB was measured prelaunch for both Terra and Aqua MODIS. Algorithms have been developed to track the on-orbit RVS variation using the measurements from the onboard calibrators, supplemented with the Earth View (EV) response from pseudo-invariant desert targets obtained at different AOI. The current approach, as implemented in Collection 6 (C6), uses EV responses from the Libyan desert sites to track the on-orbit RVS change. It strongly depends on the long-term temporal stability of the desert sites. As an effort to validate and, if necessary, to improve MODIS RSB RVS characterization for future applications, the MODIS Characterization Support Team (MCST) has developed and tested an alternative approach to monitor the on-orbit RVS change, using a response from a single desert site. The purpose of using data from one site is to avoid the impact of possible differences in the long-term temporal stability among multiple sites on the calculation of the on-orbit RVS. This paper updates recent progress in the formulation of the alternative RVS approach. Comprehensive comparisons were also performed with current C6 RVS results for both Terra and Aqua MODIS. Results demonstrate that this alternative method provides a supplemental means to track the on-orbit RVS for MODIS RSB.