Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Remote Sens.
Sec. Multi- and Hyper-Spectral Imaging
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frsen.2024.1373540
This article is part of the Research Topic Optical Radiometry and Satellite Validation View all 22 articles

A Float-Based Ocean Color Vicarious Calibration Program

Provisionally accepted
Andrew Barnard Andrew Barnard 1*Emmanuel Boss Emmanuel Boss 2Nils Haëntjens Nils Haëntjens 2Cristina Orrico Cristina Orrico 3Paul Chamberlain Paul Chamberlain 4Robert J. Frouin Robert J. Frouin 4Matthew Mazloff Matthew Mazloff 5Jing Tan Jing Tan 5
  • 1 Oregon State University, Corvallis, United States
  • 2 University of Maine, Orono, Maine, United States
  • 3 Sea-Bird Scientific, Bellevue, Nebraska, United States
  • 4 University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States
  • 5 University of San Diego, San Diego, California, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Ocean color satellites require a procedure known as System Vicarious Calibration (SVC) after launch as the pre-launch and on-orbit calibration accuracy is insufficient. The current approach for determination of post-launch SVC uses a single fixed measurement location and may be susceptible to unexpected biases in satellite processing algorithms.Here we describe a novel SVC program which is based on a high resolution and high accuracy radiometric system integrated with an autonomous profiling float (providing a buoyancy engine, physical observations, and communication). This float+radiometer (HyperNav) system can be shipped via air, land, ocean and is deployable from small boats. This SVC program relies on multiple deployment sites with associated facilities to collect a significant amount of SVC quality data in a relatively short time. It has centralized logistics and command-and-control centers ensuring easy access to information regarding the status of each asset and to ensure floats stay within a certain ocean area. The development of the program has been associated with the launch of NASA's PACE satellite and has been executed by academic institutions in collaboration with an industrial partner. Other approaches for a future float-based operational SVC program are discussed.

    Keywords: Ocean color remote sensing, System Vicarious Calibration, ocean optics, Radiometry, governance

    Received: 19 Jan 2024; Accepted: 15 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Barnard, Boss, Haëntjens, Orrico, Chamberlain, Frouin, Mazloff and Tan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Andrew Barnard, Oregon State University, Corvallis, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.