First images released from NOAA-21 VIIRS instrument

Vivid blue water within the Caribbean Sea and smog in Northern India seem within the first international picture produced with knowledge from NOAA-21’s VIIRS instrument.

The Seen Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument on NOAA-21 started gathering Earth science knowledge on Dec. 5 because the satellite handed over the East Coast of the USA. Knowledge for the worldwide picture was collected over a interval of 24 hours between Dec. 5 and 6. This got here three weeks after NASA launched the NOAA-21 satellite from Vandenberg Area Pressure Base in California on Nov. 10, 2022.

The VIIRS instrument—which additionally flies on the NOAA-20 and the NASA/NOAA Suomi-NPP satellites—gives international measurements of the ambiance, land, and oceans. It was constructed by Raytheon Intelligence & Area in El Segundo, California.

“VIIRS serves so many disciplines, it is a completely important set of measurements,” mentioned Dr. James Gleason, NASA undertaking scientist for the JPSS Flight Venture. “VIIRS gives many alternative knowledge merchandise which might be utilized by scientists in unrelated fields, from agricultural economists attempting to do crop forecasts, to air high quality scientists forecasting the place wildfire smoke might be, to catastrophe assist groups who depend evening lights to know the impression of a catastrophe.”

Over the oceans, VIIRS measures sea floor temperature, a metric that is vital for monitoring hurricane formation. It additionally measures ocean color, which helps scientists monitor phytoplankton exercise, a key indicator of ocean ecology and marine well being.

“The turquoise coloration that is seen round Cuba and the Bahamas within the bottom-left picture above comes from sediment within the shallow waters across the continental shelf,” mentioned NOAA’s Dr. Satya Kalluri, Joint Polar Satellite tv for pc System program scientist.

Over land, VIIRS can detect and measure wildfires, droughts and floods, and its knowledge can be utilized to trace the thickness and motion of wildfire smoke. The underside-right picture above reveals haze and smog over Northern India that’s seemingly resulting from agricultural burning. The snow-capped Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau are additionally seen to the north.

One of many distinctive options of VIIRS is its Day-Night time Band, which captures photographs of lights at evening, together with metropolis lights, lightning, auroras and lights from ships and fires. And considered one of its most vital makes use of is imagery over Alaska, Dr. Kalluri mentioned. It is because these satellites, which orbit the Earth from the North pole to the South pole, fly straight over the Arctic a number of instances a day.

The instrument additionally generates important environmental merchandise on snow and ice cowl, clouds, fog, aerosols and dust, and the well being of the world’s crops.

This “first mild” picture comes two weeks after the primary picture from the satellite’s Superior Expertise Microwave Sounder (ATMS) was launched. The satellite, generally known as JPSS-2 in the course of the construct and launch, was formally renamed NOAA-21 after launch, following NOAA’s naming conventions for polar orbiting satellites.

“We had two VIIRS on orbit, and now we have three,” Dr. Gleason mentioned. “We launch a number of climate satellites to make doubly and now triply positive we at all times have one going. Area is a harmful atmosphere. Stuff occurs and you’ll lose an instrument or a satellite, however we can’t lose the information. It is too vital, to too many individuals.”