Itinerary:

31 May	Hobart – Boulder
01-04 June	University of Colorado – Dept. of Aerospace Engineering
05 June	Boulder – Washington DC
06 June	MODIS Calibration Meeting
07-09 June	MODIS Science Team Meeting
09-11 June	Washington - Hobart

University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 1-4 June

Meeting with Bill Emery, Becky Knewtson, Dan Baldwin, Melissa Bowen on the MCC paper. Melissa showed results of analysis on the fields from a model simulation of flow along a continental shelf. We agreed to compare analysis procedures using this model output. Some fields of temperature and velocity were ftp’ed to Hobart for analysis on my return. We discussed the different filtering techniques and agreed to exchange some pairs of AVHRR images for comparison of different techniques; two pairs for the Leeuwin Current and two for the EAC.

Meeting with Gary Wick and John Shaw’s technicians at the NOAA laboratories. We were shown the development and testing of a radiometer system for the basis of a SOO radiometer. The radiometer layout had many similarities to the DAR011 radiometer. The HBB was maintained at 60 degrees – probably too warm for good accuracy due to the local heating of the scanning mirror mechanism. The radiometer uses a pyro-electric detector and a chopper system running at 44 hertz.

Meeting with Sandra Castro to discuss analysis of ship radiometer data sets for estimating heat fluxes and improving prediction of bulk-skin temperature differences. We discussed the data set collected on the RV Franklin during March 1999 and I would send a full data set to Sandra for her to analyse with the other sets she had collected. I would also see if data collected on our forthcoming Franklin cruise in August could also be of use.

Meeting with Melissa Bowen to discuss MCC results for the Leeuwin and EAC currents. I showed her our MCC results on the CSIRO WWW site and explained how she could access the data. These can be accessed through the workstation “lyorn”. UC results are at:

and the data sets for the model analysis are at /proj/bowen/3dmod/images and .../velocity. 

We compared the results from our different codes for MCC analysis using the model fields. After some effort we were able to show that the two codes were providing exactly the same results.

I had some extra discussions with Dan Baldwin about how to collaborate on showing the effects of the different filtering techniques, and how to advise on the best techniques to use. We agreed on how to approach this activity.

MODIS CALIBRATION MEETING, College Park, June 6, 2000

The meeting was chaired by Dr Bruce Guenther who made some introductory remarks before calling on Dr Vince Salomonson to set the theme of the meeting. Participants were encouraged to take a positive attitude and to look for ways forward through data analysis and through possible changes to the FM1 instrument to fly on the AQUA satellite. NASA were determined to launch this satellite during December 2000.

Chris Moeller from U. Wisconsin reported for the Atmospheres Group. Problems included the 5 micron leak, the cross talk in the TIR channels and the RVS problem. Bruce G. stated that the 7 micron channel was used as a surrogate for the 5 micron leak. The band at 1.38 microns was detecting land/sea boundaries at night. This should not be the case.

Wayne Esaias reported for the oceans group, and listed a set of problems with the MODIS data. These included digitiser range, un-even bit-filling, RVS, mirror side differences, cross-talk, and the lack of characterisation data obtained before launch. The matter was becoming urgent as vicarious calibration activities were being delayed until the instrument was better characterised. Bob Evans, Howard Gordon and Peter Minnett, all from U. Miami, also presented details fo their MODIS data evaluation.

Yoram Kaufman and Eric Vermote also presented details of MODIS data analysis. The urgent need for some better characterisation and standard data analysis was detailed.

MODIS Science Team Meeting, College Park, June 7-9, 2000

My detailed notes from this meeting are provided as attachment A. During the meeting several issues were developed off-line regarding the status of Direct Broadcast and MODIS data access.

During the meeting I made a presentation which covered two aspects; 1) the Australian satellite-derived SST validation plans which included data collected at Townsville, Perth, and form the RV FRANKLIN, and 2) the reception of Direct Broadcast of MODIS data within Australia, and the associated problems with data transmission and subsequent data analysis.

OUTCOMES OF SCIENCE TEAM MEETING

1. Through interactions with Direct Broadcast staff at GSFC they have agreed to address the problems associated with conflicts with the Deep Space Network.Following the meeting w should see a marked increase in the volume of data available for direct broadcast to Australian X-band stations.

2. University of Wisconsin have provided access to IDL software to extend our MODIS DB data analysis.

3. Liam Gumley has provided a detailed description of how to order data from the GSFC DAAC. These data are free to all users. Details of how to access these data can be obtained from ian.barton@marine.csiro.au

4. With Peter Minnett (u. Miami) a draft proposal was developed for submission to NASA to support an infrared radiometer calibration and inter-comparison during 2001. A copy of this draft proposal is attached.

5. Liam Gumley will also send 4 days of MODIS data covering continental Australia.

Bob Kozon: Status of TERRA.

Claire Parkinson: Status of Aqua. All instruments delivered to TRW. Problems with electrical interfacing.  Data transfer to ground systems a problem. Data products handbook Vol. 2 now available – lists all AQUA plus other satellite products. Launch of AQUA is 21/12/00. NASA is strongly holding to this date.

Roger Drake SBRS (Raytheon), Status of TERRA from contractors’ point of view.

Band 31,32 have 5 dn of noise. Band 31 leaks into 32-36. Leak characterised and accounted for.

FM1; Electronic Xtalk eliminated. Leaks in B31 and MWIR fixed. RVS successfully characterised.

Robert Wolfe: Geo-location. Is OK. Enough down-link information is provided for use with DB reception. The DB stations will just need the latest LUTs.

Y. Ito (NASDA) ADEOS-II status. AMSR has the same products as the AMSR-E on AQUA. GLI has 27 products. Launch Nov. 2001. Standard algorithms and ATBDs have been delivered and implemented.

OCEANS
Wayne Esaias: Introduction

Bob Evans: Bit-fill problems, etc. as in Miami document. Banding 0.3 K due to RvS and 0.2 K for mirror sides. Analysed door-view data before NAD door opened.

Howard Gordon: Atmospheric Correction QA: Comparison with SeaWiFS using one granule of MODIS data.

Peter Minnett: SST Validation.    11 12 micron algorithm gives 0.345 accuracy, but compromised by RVS and mirror side problems. Night-time use of 3.5 – 4.0 microns gives 0.2 K accuracy.      

Jasmine Bartlett: Phytoplankton fluorescence.

Denis Clark: MOCE/MOBY field activities. 21-day cruise off California.

Barney Balch:  Coccolithophores. Use chalk powder to simulate a bloom. Plan 25 tonne release in August 2000.

Ken Carder:  2 cruises since April to validate Ocean color algorithms. Results look good. Need some flat-fielding to remove mirror and detector effects.

Wayne Esaias: Ocean primary production. Compared SeaWiFS and MODIS products. Looks like MODIS has much less cloud cover!!! MODIS shows a higher productivity than SeaWiFS – hopefully this will improve as problems are fixed.

Frank Hoge: Concurrent ship, aircraft, and satellite measurements. Airborne 256-channel radiometer flown over Gulf of Mexico.

Janet Campbell: Selecting and blending retrieval algorithms in coastal waters.

Ian Barton: Presented details of Australian SST validation plans for MODIS. Also gave details of DB reception in Australia including data processing and data requirements.

ATMOSPHERES

Paul Menzel: Cloud and vertical profile retrievals.

Yoram Kaufman: Aerosols. Use of channels from 0.55 to 2,1 microns. Accuracy in aerosol optical depth of 0.05 over sea and 0.5 over land. Separation of low cloud and aerosol. Looking at cases of Saharan dust over Atlantic.

BoCai Gao: Use of 1.38 micron channel to retrieve cirrus cloud properties and water vapour.

END OF DAY 1

NOTE: Bob Kozon (NASA) is a contact re the scheduling of DB for MODIS. Paul Westmayer will look into the DSN problem during the MST meeting.  No response from the GSFC people concerned. I must follow this up as soon as I return.

NOTE: Liam Gumley to send details of how to get data from the Goddard DAAC. Also has given details of how to get the radiance-BT LUTs from his ftp site. Email Liam to remind him about the DAAC data access.

NOTE: Wisconsin code to go from radiances to BTs etc. is at ftp site origin.ssec.wisc.edu cd pub/MODIS or pub/IDL as modis_level1b_read.pro (May be ftp://origin.ssec.wisc.edu).

NOTE: Jeff Privette. Promoter of new CEOS WGCV sub-group (along with someone from DLR). Discussed Land validation plans and meeting dates to set up the new group.   Agreed to try and aim for the Monday & Tuesday after ESA’s Gotheborg meeting and before the CEOS WGCV Plenary in Gaithesburg.

Fred Prata should perhaps go to this meeting.

NOTE: Remember to send Liam Gumley’s data access email to Wayne Esaias for re-transmission to the MODIS Oceans Team.

DAY 2 - 08/06/00

LAND

Eric Vermote: Surface reflectance comparison between MODIS and AVHRR.

X. Ma (for Wan). LST. Field campaign over Mono Lake, Ca. 13 thermistors on lake + 4 radiometers + radiosonde + IR camera. Large variations in MODIS and calculated BTs for chs 20-36. Possible cal errors of 1.0 K in 31 and 32. Noisy channels in bands 21-24 should not be used.

Alfredo Huete: Vegetation indices. MOD 13A2 1 km and 16days

Rango Myneni: LAI and FPAR from MODIS data.

Steve Running: Net Primary Productivity. Showed data for USA in late March which had very little productivity as expected for that time of the year.

Dorothy Hall: MODIS snow and ice products. Products seem to agree well with data sets from other sources.  MODIS product showed some good snow fields in Queensland during April!! Get striping due to two bad detectors in Band 6.

Chris Justice: Fire products. Active fire detection. Use absolute thresholds in Bands 21,22,31. Maps not ready for release due to the same problems as seen in SST images. Showed images of Los Alamos fires.

Alan Strahler: BRDF Albedo and land cover. 425 test sites.

Jan-Peter Muller: Data are excellent- don’t see striping!! MOD 43 product over western Europe.

Ruth DeFries (for John Townshend): Land cover. MOD12Q1 At-Launch land cover. 1 km and 250 m products. Preliminary product to be replaced by the Boston Uni product when available. An alarm product is produced every 32 days.

MODIS Data System, etc.

Mike Moore:  Plans with ECS system. Ed Masuoka: MODIS data processing Centre. (MODAPS). 

Greg Leptoukh: Goddard DAAC. John Dwyer: EDC DAAC. Greg Scharfen: NSIDC DAAC.

L. Elson: WebWinds http://webwinds.jpl.nasa.gov/ For surfing the WWW and getting or viewing the data. New version available in July. Lots of tools for compositing, adding, overlaying, animation etc. A bit like IDL.

J. Descloites: 250m production system. Currently cover the contiguous USA and a few other test sites.

http://modis-250m.nascom.nasa.gov has all the details plus links to the images at the MODLAND site.

Chris Justice: SWAMP meeting. Gave background on status of data production. Still not happy with the MODIS situation.  Data re-processing will take too long. There is now a need for some means of science data users input into the DAACs. A formal letter will be sent to MODIS chief scientist (Y. Kaufman) for transmission to EOS project.

CLOSED SESSION 1530-1700 08/06/00

The notes for this session have been removed to comply with NASA regulations. The main outcomes of the meeting focussed on changes to the operating mode of MODIS and some components of the FM1 instrument for AQUA.

MODIS Oceans Team Meeting - 09/06/00

Agenda: Action Item reviews

Tsat letter to Vince: Tabled, and the following discussions led to several modifications. Suggests setting the Tsat for Bands 31, 32 to 340 K and a dn of 200 for space view. This will double the dn dynamic range of the SST signal.

Change to B-side: Important to do now so that digitisation-noise is minimised in all PC channels and bands. Currently many detectors do not meet specs on digitisation noise. The change to B-side will improve SST, cloud products, CO2 slicing, and improved capability to correct for RvS, polarisation effects, crosstalk etc.

Overall impressions on algorithm performance

Janet Campbell: Showed comparisons between MODIS & SeaWiFS – some differences!

Product performance paper: Howard Gordon showed an outline. Discussed at length – but mainly for ocean colour. SST with 3.7 to 4.2 microns should be published as quickly as possible. Wayne to set up a WWW site where MOT members can exhibit their wares.

BoCai Gao: Seeking an increase in saturation threshold in the ocean colour bands to assist with strong aerosol case estimation. MOT not over-receptive as it would compromise the atmospheric correction accuracy. However, the opportunity will be explored further.

Ron Vogel (GSFC): MODAPS description. Data missing for days 129-138, 147-150. Integration of level 2 and 3 code is ongoing. GDAAC archiving Level 2 data since April 20, 2000. No level 3 products currently being archived. WWW page in Miami states which granules are available in Miami. Try

http://picasso.oce.orst.edu/ORS00/MODIS/code  (not sure about the ORS00) for code etc., and

http://modis_ocean.gsfc.nasa.gov/qa   for Documentation /ATBD/products/parameters

Validation plans: Denis Clark: Problems with sun-glint on eastern half of pass.

Bob Evans: Aqua plans: All code will be the same - except there will be some merged products at Level 3.

NOTE: Data delivery issues.

From MEBDOS: Can get 1b but not 1a. Can request DLT tape (see notes of Ron Vogel)

Product names: MOD28QC.2000160.0730  (ESDT.yyyyddd.hhmm) for every 5 minutes (1 granule). Ask GSFC help desk at DAACUSO@daac.gsfc.nasa.gov about Level 1a data

Ron Vogel will send email to explain all details. GSFC and Miami have tools to input lat, long, and time, and then granule details will be output.

Ed Masuoka says that they can sub-set out an area and then ftp to our “incoming” site. Send Ron Vogel the coordinates and copy to Ed Masuoka.

Oceans Team Meeting finished at 1400

Location: RSMAS, University of Miami, Florida

Dates: 1 week early in April 2001

Aims:  To calibrate and compare infrared radiometers used in the validation of the different surface temperature products derived from earth observation satellites. To assess the relative performance of each instrument and thus ensure that surface measurements used in satellite product validation are traceable to a NIST standard brightness temperature.

Background: The first inter-comparison of infrared radiometers was held at RSMAS during March 1998. This involved several high quality radiometers and some off-the-shelf devices. NIST provided their standard black body target for calibration of each radiometer. Other black bodies available for calibration included a NIST clone provided by the University of Washington, a smaller unit from JPL, the CASOTS black body, and a portable unit designed by CSIRO, Australia. Since the first inter-comparison several new radiometers have been constructed to participate in validation activities. It is important that these radiometers be calibrated against a NIST standard as well as compared with the other radiometers. The inter-comparison and calibration will be held 3 years after the first exercise; this will enable any drifts in instrument calibration to be detected. Details of the first calibration and inter-comparison can be found at http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/~ir/.

Methodology:  The first two days will involve all radiometers viewing the available Calibration Black Bodies at a range of temperatures between 10 and 50 C. The RSMAS NIST-certified black body will be suitable for the calibration of the radiometer allowing the measurements of each radiometer to be traced to the NIST standard. Following the laboratory measurements the radiometers will all be mounted on a research vessel to ensure that they can operate under experimental conditions. A day will be required to both mount and de-mount all the radiometers, with three days of measurements in between. Costs for 5 days of ship time are included in the budget below.

Outcomes: High quality radiometric validation measurements are difficult to obtain, and are thus a scarce resource. International collaboration will be required to provide sufficient data to allow reliable validation of surface temperature products for MODIS, AVHRR, VIRSS,GLI, and AATSR. Following the radiometer calibration, inter-comparison, and testing under field conditions, the international community will have confidence in the results to be provided for validation of satellite-derived surface temperatures from the above instruments.

Estimated Budget: Participants will be asked to fund their own travel and subsistence to attend the inter-comparison.

Ship time on the RV Walton-Smith 90 ft. 12 berth	$75,000 (5 days @ $15,000 per day)
Radiometer mounts and other infrastructure	$5,000
Indirect costs	$40,000
TOTAL	$120,000

Radiometers for inter-comparison:

M-AERI	Uni Miami P. Minnett
SISTeR	RAL,UK T. Nightingale
DAR011 & DAR010	CSIRO, Australia  I. Barton & F. Prata
CIRIMS	Uni Washington  Andy Jessup
ISAR-5	JRC, EEC  Craig Donlon
William Skirving’s new radiometer	AIMS, Australia   William Skirving
NOAA/University of Colorado	NOAA, UC Joe Shaw and Bill Emery
Off-the-shelf TASCOs, Everests, and Heinemans	Frank Palluconi et al
Infrared cameras???

Black bodies for inter-comparison:

NIST-Certified/NIST-Designed Black Body Target

CASOTS black body

CSIRO Portable black body

JPL Black Body Calibrator

Possible Participants:

Hook, Palluconi	JPL
Minnett	Uni. Miami
Jessup	Uni. Washington
Emery	Uni. Colorado
Shaw	NOAA
Butler/Starr	NASA
Prata, Barton, Skirving	Australia
Nightingale	UK
Donlon	EEC-JRC
Kawamura, Tanba	Japan