The MODIS instrument on the Terra and Aqua spacecrafts is a 12 bit sensor with an analog-to-digital (A/D) range of 0 to 4095 DN. Each sensor system is limited by a range at the low and high ends of the dynamic scale. At the low end, quantization noise is the limiting factor whereas at the high end the maximum value is limited by the capability of the amplifier, 4095 in the case of MODIS. However, in both Terra and Aqua MODIS certain detectors in the Reflective Solar Bands (RSB) tend to pre-saturate at a value lower than 4095. This paper serves as a comprehensive report on the algorithms developed to characterize the pre-saturation limit in the RSB. The paper also provides the digital and pre-saturation (analog saturation) limits for the RSB that are currently being used in the Level 1B (L1B) products. The digital and analog saturation limits are well characterized using the Level 1A (L1A) raw Earth-View (EV) data and through the on-board Electronic Calibration (E-CAL). Also, in this paper an analysis is done to study the sensors dynamic range due to the long term changes in the instrument response. In summary, the algorithms and results reported in this paper are important as the radiometric accuracy / uncertainty for instruments such as MODIS, VIIRS (NPP) tends to be coupled to pre-saturation.

Date Published: 15 October 2012
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 8510, Earth Observing Systems XVII, 85101N (15 October 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.929998

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8510:
Earth Observing Systems XVII
James J. Butler; Xiaoxiong Xiong; Xingfa Gu, Editor(s)