Spectral Fidelity of Earth's Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems

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dc.contributor.authorThompson, David R.
dc.contributor.authorBrodrick, Philip G.
dc.contributor.authorCawse-Nicholson, Kerry
dc.contributor.authorChadwick, K. Dana
dc.contributor.authorGreen, Robert O.
dc.contributor.authorPoulter, Benjamin
dc.contributor.authorSerbin, Shawn
dc.contributor.authorShiklomanov, Alexey
dc.contributor.authorTownsend, Philip
dc.contributor.authorTurpie, Kevin
dc.date.accessioned2021-07-28T19:34:05Z
dc.date.available2021-07-28T19:34:05Z
dc.date.issued2021-07-10
dc.description.abstractAbstract The Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) investigation will create global maps of spectral surface reflectance and emissivity at a cadence of 16 days or better, with coverage to address global questions about Earth's geology, cryosphere and ecosystems. The revolutionary potential poses a commensurate challenge: creating contiguous maps free from regional biases induced by atmosphere, observation geometry, or inversion error. This will require an accurate calibration with precise knowledge of each channel's spectral response. Here we quantify the impact of spectral calibration on SBG's aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem objectives. We find that contemporary algorithms for ecosystem trait retrieval demand more accurate spectral calibration than historical missions. Errors due to drift or spatial nonuniformity in the wavelength calibration that have previously been considered acceptable can cause systematic errors larger than the instrument noise and of the same order as the variability SBG aims to measure. Moreover, their impact on atmospheric correction can induce climate-dependent systematic errors that thwart comparisons between ecosystems. These results underscore the importance of spectral response accuracy in SBG mission design. Plain Language Summary Remote imaging spectrometers operating in visible to shortwave infrared wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum measure the intensity of solar-reflected light as hundreds of distinct channels. This requires knowing the precise spectral range to which each channel is sensitive. The accurate association of wavelengths to instrument channels is known as the spectral calibration of the instrument, or simply spectral fidelity. Small errors in this calibration can have a significant impact on measurement accuracy. This study evaluates the sensitivity of a future global investigation of Earth's ecosystems to such errors. We find that small errors in spectral calibration can cause large inaccuracies in maps of ecosystem properties. This means that accurate spectral calibration will be critical for the success of these future investigations.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipPAT was supported by a contract from JPL (award 1638464) and NASA (awards 80NSSC17K0677 and 80NSSC20K0208). SPS was supported by NASA contract #NNG20OB24A and by the United States Department of Energy contract No. DE-SC0012704 to Brookhaven National Laboratory. Contributions from ANS were supported by the NASA Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) mission study. Code used for the forward and inverse modeling can be found at the ISOFIT repository (https://github.com/isofit/isofit). Data used in the experiments can be found at zenodo, in a repository that is available to reviewers and made fully public after acceptance for publication (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3735479).This research was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Copyright 2021 California Institute of Technology. All rights reserved. US Government506Support Acknowledged.en_US
dc.description.urihttps://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2021JG006273en_US
dc.format.extent22 pagesen_US
dc.genrejournal articles postprintsen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m25o5d-jauq
dc.identifier.citationThompson, David R. et al.; Spectral Fidelity of Earth's Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems; Journal of Geophysical Research : Biogeosciences, 10 July, 2021; https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JG006273en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1029/2021JG006273
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/22205
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherAmerican Geophysical Unionen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Faculty Collection
dc.rightsThis item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
dc.rights©2018. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved
dc.rightsAccess to this item will begin on 2022-07-10
dc.titleSpectral Fidelity of Earth's Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystemsen_US
dc.typeTexten_US

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