Comparison of S-NPP VIIRS and PLEIADES lunar observations

The first VIIRS instrument was launched on-board the S-NPP satellite in October 2011. It has a total of 15 reflective solar bands (RSB), which include a day-night band (DNB). The VIIRS RSB are calibrated each orbit by an on-board solar diffuser and regularly scheduled lunar observations. With a few exceptions, regularly scheduled lunar observations have been made with the same phase angles from -51.5⁰ to -50.5⁰. The PLEIADES system consists of two satellites, PLEIADES-1A and PLEIADES-1B, which were launched in December of 2011 and December of 2012, respectively. Each instrument has 5 RSB: four (blue, green, red and near-infrared) bands with a 2.8 m spatial resolution and one panchromatic band with a 70 cm vertical viewing resolution. PLEIADES RSB are calibrated using observations of Pseudo Invariant Calibration Sites (PICS) and the Moon. Both PLEIADES-1A and PLEIADES-1B lunar observations have been made over a wide range of phase angles. In this paper we provide an overview of S-NPP VIIRS and PLEIADES lunar observations and an analysis to qualify their lunar calibration differences. Results derived from different inter-comparison methodologies (or approaches) are illustrated. Also discussed in this paper are the challenging issues, lessons, and future effort to further improve sensor lunar calibration inter-comparisons.