NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System Program Office

The Suomi National Polar‐orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite was successfully launched on 28 October 2011. On board the Suomi NPP, the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) is a cross‐track scanning instrument and has 22 channels at frequencies ranging from 23 to 183 GHz which allows for probing the atmospheric temperature and moisture under clear and cloudy conditions. ATMS inherited most of the sounding channels from its predecessors: Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit‐A (AMSU‐A) and Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) onboard NOAA and MetOp satellites. However, ATMS has a wider scan swath and has no gaps between two consecutive orbits. It includes one new temperature sounding channel and two water vapor sounding channels and provides more details of thermal structures in lower troposphere, especially for the storm conditions such as tropical cyclones. While ATMS temperature sounding channels have shorter integration time and therefore higher noise than AMSU‐A, the ATMS observations from their overlapping field of views are resampled to produce AMSU‐A‐like measurements.

The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) cross-track infrared sounder (CrIS) has provided critical observations for environmental applications for nearly ten years. However, on 26 March 2019, the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) interface data processing segment (IDPS) stopped producing the operational SNPP CrIS sensor data record (SDR) product due to a failure of the midwave infrared (MWIR) band. Following a comprehensive risk assessment, the switch from primary Side-1 to redundant Side-2 electronics was made on 24 June 2019, successfully recovering the full capabilities of the sensor. Comprehensive assessment results demonstrate the high quality of the CrIS SDR product resulting from the sensor recalibration, thus meeting the JPSS Level-1 requirements with margin. The spectral calibration prioritized consistency with the CrIS SDR product prior to the side switch to minimize the impact on users. The results show that the radiometric impact on the CrIS SDR product resulting from the side switch is not significant and is within the calibration radiometric uncertainty. It is demonstrated that after instrument restoration, the SNPP CrIS SDR product recovers the quality needed to be used as radiometric reference for calibration and validation of infrared remote sensing instruments. The recovery of the SNPP CrIS MWIR band is expected to support improvements in numerical weather forecasting by restoring the MWIR band channels sensitive to tropospheric water vapor. This should also help maintain continuity and redundancy of one of the backbone observations of the global observing system.

A geostationary (GEO) hyperspectral infrared sounder (HyIRS) is capable of providing high spectral (0.625 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">−1</sup> ), temporal (every 30 min) and spatial (4 km) resolution observations over the continental U.S. (CONUS). Frequent observations from a GEO-HyIRS at high spatial resolution are expected to contribute to the generation of three-dimensional structures of atmospheric temperature and humidity, and wind. These new observations will provide valuable information for timely forecasts of severe storms over the CONUS and the overall Western Hemisphere. Infrared (IR) sounder observations from a geostationary orbit open a new set of possibilities, including the capability of monitoring the diurnal cycle of atmospheric patterns, which is difficult from Low Earth Orbit IR sounders and the capability of timely and accurate retrievals of several trace gases. In this article, the feasibility of adding a HyIRS into the next generation of U.S. geostationary environmental satellites is studied. The configuration of a notional U.S. GEO-HyIRS sensor and its ground data processing system are discussed. A hyperspectral IR data simulator is developed and reported as part of this engineering study, where proxy data is used to model the end-to-end ground processing system. Various considerations for the configuration and the calibration and validation of the instrument are addressed.

Scientists and stakeholders from precipitation sensor developers, remote sensing algorithm developers, and data users gathered to discuss the state of the science and users’ needs for operational precipitation algorithms and products from current and future meteorological satellites.

Radiances and Environmental Data Records (EDR) from the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) are critical for weather prediction. A variety of EDRs such as fire detection, retrievals of aerosols and water vapor are used by forecasters to provide warnings and alerts during disasters. Several JPSS products also provide continuity of essential climate variables such as upper atmospheric temperature and ozone concentration for climate change monitoring.

The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite successfully completed 10 years of operations. SNPP enabled the success of JPSS mission and bridged the gap between legacy POES and JPSS satellites. This paper highlights the contributions of SNPP mission to the JPSS mission.

The current status and plans for the Joint Polar Satellite System and its predecessor mission, the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP), are discussed with more detail provided for the five sensors scheduled to be flown on NPP.