VIIRS emissive band radiometric performance trending

The Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is a key sensor on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite launched on October 28, 2011 into a polar orbit of 824 km nominal altitude. VIIRS collects radiometric and imagery data of the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and land surfaces in 22 spectral bands spanning the visible and infrared spectrum from 0.4 to 12.5 μm. This paper summarizes the radiometric performance measured in the 7 VIIRS thermal emissive bands (3.7 to 12.5 μm), covering both pre-launch thermal-vacuum testing and early on-orbit characterizations. Radiometric characteristics trended include radiometric response and radiometric sensitivity (SNR/NEdT).