In this paper, the latest progress, major achievements and future plans of Chinese meteorological satellites and the core data processing techniques are discussed. First, the latest three FengYun (FY) meteorological satellites (FY-2H, FY-3D, and FY-4A) and their primary objectives are introduced. Second, the core image navigation techniques and accuracies of the FY meteorological satellites are elaborated, including the latest geostationary (FY-2/4) and polar-orbit (FY-3) satellites. Third, the radiometric calibration techniques and accuracies of reflective solar bands, thermal infrared bands, and passive microwave bands for FY meteorological satellites are discussed. It also illustrates the latest progress of real-time calibration with the onboard calibration system and validation with different methods, including the vicarious China radiance calibration site calibration, pseudo invariant calibration site calibration, deep convective clouds calibration, and lunar calibration. Fourth, recent progress of meteorological satellite data assimilation applications and quantitative science produce are summarized at length. The main progress is in meteorological satellite data assimilation by using microwave and hyper-spectral infrared sensors in global and regional numerical weather prediction models. Lastly, the latest progress in radiative transfer, absorption and scattering calculations for satellite remote sensing is summarized, and some important research using a new radiative transfer model are illustrated.

Latest Progress of the Chinese Meteorological Satellite Program and Core Data Processing Technologies

Meteorological satellites have become an irreplaceable tool for weather and land observation. Traditionally, geo-stationary satellites are commonly used in operational meteorological services due to their high temporal resolution properties. While polar-orbiting satellites, with their high spatial resolution properties, are more applied to monitor environmental change and natural disasters. The development of China’s next-generation geostationary meteorological satellites (FY-4 series) represents an exciting expansion in Chinese Non-meteorological remote sensing capabilities. The first satellite (FengYun-4A) of the FY-4 series was launched on 11 December 2016. The Advanced Geosynchronous Radiation Imager (AGRI) on board FY-4A has 14 spectral bands (increased from the five bands of FY-2) that are quantized with 12 bits per pixel (up from 10 bits for FY-2) and sampled at 1 km at nadir in the visible (VIS), 2 km in the near-infrared (NIR), and 4 km in the remaining IR spectral bands (compared with 1.25 km for VIS, no NIR, and 5 km for IR of FY-2). For the following series of FY-4A, the AGRI channel number will be gradually increased from 14 to 18 with IR spatial resolution of 2 km, and the full-disc temporal resolution will be enhanced from 15 to 5 min. With their improved spectral, spatial and temporal resolution properties, the FY-4 series will gradually approach the LEO sensors in spatial and spectral resolutions, which will offer greater opportunities and capacities for observing fine objects and rapid change of land, ocean and atmosphere. This review paper provides an introduction to the Chinese FY-4 observation capabilities, comparison of FY-4 with other new generation geo-stationary weather satellites, and associated non-meteorological applications. A series of typical examples based on recent and on-going operational work in NSMC/CMA that are using FY-4A data for non-meteorological applications were demonstrated and discussed, including (i) Aerosol monitoring; (ii) Sand storm monitoring; (iii)Volcanic ash detection and aviation applications ; (iv) Fire detection and dynamical evaluation; (v) Water body detection and (vi) Cyanobacterial Blooms monitoring. The paper concludes with a synthesis of these application areas and challenges we have to address for future research, technological innovation and in-depth applications.

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General Comparison of FY-4A/AGRI With Other GEO/LEO Instruments and Its Potential and Challenges in Non-meteorological Applications

The advanced MEdium Resolution Spectral Imager (MERSI II) is a major instrument onboard the Chinese FengYun 3D satellite, which was launched in November 2017. Extensive measurements were performed during MERSI II prelaunch testing to ensure effective characterization for on-orbit calibration. This paper gives a brief overview of the prelaunch performance testing conducted for MERSI II, as well as its improvements in terms of instrument design compared to MERSI I. The prelaunch calibration methodology and radiometric performance are detailed, including dynamic range, signal-to-noise ratio, noise equivalent differential temperature, linearity, and response uniformity. The assessment results indicate that most bands perform effectively with mirror specification noncompliances in a few reflective solar bands (RSBs). In addition, investigation of the stability and uniformity of the spherical integrating source indicates that they have a critical impact on the performance assessment and prelaunch calibration of RSBs. The temperature-dependence features of thermal emissive bands’ performances are also discussed in terms of their sensitivity to the operating temperature of the focal plane assembly and instrument circumstance. This paper also shows that the self-stability of the calibration source and the representation of the assessment methods are important as they affect the results of instrument performance evaluation.

Prelaunch Calibration and Radiometric Performance of the Advanced MERSI II on FengYun-3D

Accurate knowledge of the carbon budget on global and regional scales is critically important to design mitigation strategies aimed at stabilizing the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. For a better understanding of CO2 variation trends over Asia, in this study, the column-averaged CO2 dry air mole fraction (XCO2) derived from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) CarbonTracker (CT) was compared with that of Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) from September 2009 to August 2019 and with Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) from September 2014 until August 2019. Moreover, monthly averaged time-series and seasonal climatology comparisons were also performed separately over the five regions of Asia; i.e., Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Western Asia. The results show that XCO2 from GOSAT is higher than the XCO2 simulated by CT by an amount of 0.61 ppm, whereas, OCO-2 XCO2 is lower than CT by 0.31 ppm on average, over Asia. The mean spatial correlations of 0.93 and 0.89 and average Root Mean Square Deviations (RMSDs) of 2.61 and 2.16 ppm were found between the CT and GOSAT, and CT and OCO-2, respectively, implying the existence of a good agreement between the CT and the other two satellites datasets. The spatial distribution of the datasets shows that the larger uncertainties exist over the southwest part of China. Over Asia, NOAA CT shows a good agreement with GOSAT and OCO-2 in terms of spatial distribution, monthly averaged time series, and seasonal climatology with small biases. These results suggest that CO2 can be used from either of the datasets to understand its role in the carbon budget, climate change, and air quality at regional to global scales.

Multi-Year Comparison of CO2 Concentration from NOAA Carbon Tracker Reanalysis Model with Data from GOSAT and OCO-2 over Asia

. The Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) has been the baseline network of instruments that record solar absorption spectra from which accurate and precise column-averaged dry air mole fractions of CO2 (XCO2), CH4 (XCH4), CO (XCO) and other gases are retrieved. The TCCON data have been widely used for carbon cycle science and validation of satellites measuring greenhouse gas concentrations globally. The number of stations in the network (currently about 25) is limited and the stations are distributed mostly in Northern America, Europe, Japan and Oceania leaving gaps in the global coverage. A denser distribution of ground-based solar absorption measurements is needed to cover various atmospheric conditions (humid, dry, polluted, presence of aerosol), various surface conditions (high and low albedo) and a larger latitudinal distribution. More stations in the southern hemisphere are also needed but a further expansion of the network is limited by its costs and logistical requirements. For this reason several groups are investigating supplemental portable low-cost instruments. The European Space Agency (ESA) funded campaign Fiducial Reference Measurements for Ground-Based Infrared Greenhouse Gas Observations (FRM4GHG) at the Sodankyla TCCON site in northern Finland aims at characterising the assessment of several low-cost portable instruments for precise solar absorption measurements of XCO2, XCH4 and XCO. The test instruments under investigation are three Fourier transform spectrometers (FTS): a Bruker EM27/SUN, a Bruker IRcube and a Bruker Vertex70; as well as a Laser Heterodyne spectro-Radiometer (LHR) developed by the UK Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. All four remote sensing instruments performed measurements simultaneously next to the reference TCCON instrument, a Bruker IFS 125HR, for a full year in 2017. The TCCON FTS was operated in its normal high-resolution mode (TCCON data set) and in a special low-resolution mode (HR125LR data set), similar to the portable spectrometers. The remote sensing measurements have been complemented by regular AirCore launches performed from the same site. They provide in-situ vertical profiles of the target gas concentrations as auxiliary reference data for the column retrievals which is traceable to the WMO SI standards. The timeseries, the bias relative to the reference instrument and its scatter and the seasonal and the day-to-day variations of the target gases are shown and discussed. The comparisons with the HR125LR data set gave useful analysis of the resolution dependent effects on the target gas retrieval. The solar zenith angle dependence of the retrievals is shown and discussed. The reference measurements performed with the Bruker IFS 125HR (TCCON and HR125LR data sets) were found to be affected by non-linearity. A non-linearity correction of the TCCON data was performed and compared with the test instruments and AirCore. The non-linearity corrected TCCON data show a better match with the test instruments and AirCore data as compared to the reference TCCON data. The intercomparison results show that the LHR data have a large scatter and biases with a strong diurnal variation relative to the TCCON and other FTS instruments. The LHR is a new instrument under development and these biases are being currently investigated and addressed. The campaign helped to characterise and identify the instrumental biases and possibly retrieval biases which are currently under investigation. Further improvements of the instrument are ongoing. The EM27/SUN, the IRcube, the modified Vertex70 and the HR125LR provided stable and precise measurements of the target gases during the campaign with quantified small biases. The bias dependence on the humidity along the measurement line-of-sight has been investigated and no dependence was found. These three portable low-resolution FTS instruments are suitable to be used for campaign deployment or long-term measurements from any site and offer the ability to complement the TCCON and expand the global coverage of ground-based reference measurements of the target gases.

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Intercomparison of low- and high-resolution infrared spectrometers for ground-based solar remote sensing measurements of total column concentrations of CO2, CH4, and CO

Accurate quantification of the distribution and variability of atmospheric CO2 is crucial for a better understanding of global carbon cycle characteristics and climate change. Model simulation and observations are only two ways to globally estimate CO2 concentrations and fluxes. However, large uncertainties still exist. Therefore, quantifying the differences between model and observations is rather helpful for reducing their uncertainties and further improving model estimations of global CO2 sources and sinks. In this paper, the GEOS-Chem model was selected to simulate CO2 concentration and then compared with the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) observations, CarbonTracker (CT) and the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) measurements during 2009–2011 for quantitatively evaluating the uncertainties of CO2 simulation. The results revealed that the CO2 simulated from GEOS-Chem is in good agreement with other CO2 data sources, but some discrepancies exist including: (1) compared with GOSAT retrievals, modeled XCO2 from GEOS-Chem is somewhat overestimated, with 0.78 ppm on average; (2) compared with CT, the simulated XCO2 from GEOS-Chem is slightly underestimated at most regions, although their time series and correlation show pretty good consistency; (3) compared with the TCCON sites, modeled XCO2 is also underestimated within 1 ppm at most sites, except at Garmisch, Karlsruhe, Sodankyla and Ny-Alesund. Overall, the results demonstrate that the modeled XCO2 is underestimated on average, however, obviously overestimated XCO2 from GEOS-Chem were found at high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere in summer. These results are helpful for understanding the model uncertainties as well as to further improve the CO2 estimation.

Global Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations Simulated by GEOS-Chem: Comparison with GOSAT, Carbon Tracker and Ground-Based Measurements

Intercalibration against a well-calibrated instrument at Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is a common method which has been widely used to assess the in-flight calibration of a new instrument. Different instruments on LEO spacecraft with similar spectral channels can be compared with each other using their simultaneous nadir observations (SNO). The postlaunch calibrations of Medium Resolution Spectral Imager (MERSI) and the Visible Infrared Radiometer (VIRR) in visible channels which are two major multi-spectral imaging radiometers onboard FY-3C are addressed based on SNO intercalibration method. Collection 6 reflectance products of AQUA MODIS are used as reference. The spectral difference impacts of matching channels are simulated and adjusted using GOME-2 hyperspectral measurements. As monitoring the stability of monthly forcing fits, it is found the linear fitting slopes of MERSI VIS channel 1~12 are scene reflectance dependence with relative differences greater than 20%, while the monthly forcing fits of VIRR show well agreement in VIS channels. This is proved to attribute to the nonlinear response of MERSI as the monthly measurements cover different dynamic ranges. A new radiometric calibration equation considering nonlinear correction is proposed based on an on orbit linear adjustment to prelaunch quadratic calibration. The new calibrations are more consistent with SNO samples, and greatly improve the performance over high reflective scene comparing with linear results verified by statistical measurements over Deep Convective Clouds targets. It is demonstrated that other reference is necessary in ocean color channels as MODIS reflectance is within 10% where the nonlinear feature is likely much serious. It is an invaluable lesson that the temporal variation of calibration slope not always indicates the detector’s degradation, but maybe is the valuable information that helps to expose undiscovered characters of instrument.

In-flight intercalibration of FY-3C visible channels with AQUA MODIS

Medium Resolution Spectral Imager (MERSI) is the key imaging sensor on board Fengyun-3 (FY-3), the second generation polar-orbiting meteorological satellites in China, currently operating on both FY-3A, FY-3B and FY-3C satellites. It has 20 spectral bands, including 19 reflective solar bands (RSBs) with center wavelengths from 0.41μm to 2.1μm and 1 thermal emissive band (TEB) with center wavelength 12μm, making observations at two spatial resolutions: 250 m (bands 1-5) and 1km (bands 6-20). The FY-3C has been launched in 23, Sept., 2013. The MERSI doesn't carry on-board calibration standards. To obtain RSBs radiometric responses, pre-launched field radiometric calibration test which is called Solar Radiation Based Calibration(SRBC) was taken in Dali in 27, Feb. to 2, Mar., 2013. For the SRBC measurement which the sun was the source of irradiance, MERSI viewed the reflected solar irradiance from a set of the sixteen reference spectral on panels with different reflective level. The uniformity, reflectivity and BRDF (Bidirectional reflection of distribution function) of sixteen reference panels were tested in advance. There are two kinds of calibration coefficient generation methods used in SRBC. One is similar as the Sea-WiFS pre-launch calibration method by Langley calibration. Besides this, we use a portable spectrometers produced by Analytical Spectral Devices inc. (ASD inc.) named FieldSpec 3 to measure the absolutely reflected radiance simultaneously. The calibrated spectrometers measured radiance could be as the reference radiance and the the calibration coefficient of the MERSI can be calculated. We called this method Calibration Based on Reference Instrument(CBRI). The results of these two methods are comparable. The CBRI results are less then 6% difference with Langley calibration method in most channels except water-vapor channels and channel 15. An non-linear feature of the most FY-3C/MERSI detectors was found for the first time. This phenomenon is even more obvious for the water-vapor channels. The second order coefficient determined by pre-launched calibration is quite useful to improve the on-obit calibration accuracy.

FY-3C/MERSI pre-launch calibration for reflective solar bands

FY-3C/MERSI has some remarkable improvements compared to the previous MERSIs including better spectral response function (SRF) consistency of different detectors within one band, increasing the capability of lunar observation by space view (SV) and the improvement of radiometric response stability of solar bands. During the In-orbit verification (IOV) commissioning phase, early results that indicate the MERSI representative performance were derived, including the signal noise ratio (SNR), dynamic range, MTF, B2B registration, calibration bias and instrument stability. The SNRs at the solar bands (Bands 1–4 and 6-20) was largely beyond the specifications except for two NIR bands. The in-flight calibration and verification for these bands are also heavily relied on the vicarious techniques such as China radiometric calibration sites(CRCS), cross-calibration, lunar calibration, DCC calibration, stability monitoring using Pseudo Invariant Calibration Sites (PICS) and multi-site radiance simulation. This paper will give the results of the above several calibration methods and monitoring the instrument degradation in early on-orbit time.

Performance assessment of FY-3C/MERSI on early orbit

Duhuang site has been selected as China Radiation Calibration Site (CRCS) for Remote Sensing Satellite Sensors since 1996. With the economic development of Dunhuang city, the ambient of the radiation calibration field has changed in recent years. Taking into account the key role of aerosol in radiometric calibration, it is essential to investigate the aerosol optical properties over Dunhuang radiometric calibration site. In this paper, the CIMEL sun photometer (CE-318) and Mie-scattering Lidar are simultaneously used to measure aerosol optical properties in Dunhuang site. Data from aerosol-bands of sun photometer are used in a Langley method to determine spectral optical depths of aerosol. And Lidar is utilized to obtain information of vertical profile and integrated aerosol optical depths at different heights. The results showed that the aerosol optical depth at 500 nm wavelength during the in-situ measurement campaigns varied from 0.1 to 0.3 in Dunhuang site. And the observation results also indicated that high aerosol concentration layer mostly located at the height of about 2~4 km. These results implies that the aerosol concentration of atmosphere in Dunhuang was relatively small and suitable for in-flight calibration for remote sensing satellite sensors.

Zhang Peng

Papers

Global Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations Simulated by GEOS-Chem: Comparison with GOSAT, Carbon Tracker and Ground-Based Measurements

In-flight intercalibration of FY-3C visible channels with AQUA MODIS

FY-3C/MERSI pre-launch calibration for reflective solar bands

Performance assessment of FY-3C/MERSI on early orbit

Analysis of aerosol properties derived from sun photometer and lidar over Dunhuang radiometric calibration site