In-orbit radiometric calibration and stability monitoring of the PROBA-V instrument

Abstract

Since its launch in May 2013, the in-orbit radiometric performance of PROBA-V has been continuously monitored. Due to the absence of on-board calibration devices, in-flight performance monitoring and calibration relies fully on vicarious calibration methods. In this paper, the multiple vicarious calibration techniques used to verify radiometric accuracy and to perform calibration parameter updates are discussed. Details are given of the radiometric calibration activities during both the commissioning and operational phase. The stability of the instrument in terms of overall radiometry and dark current is analyzed. Results of an independent comparison against MERIS and SPOT VEGETATION-2 are presented. Finally, an outlook is provided of the on-going activities aimed at improving both data consistency over time and within-scene uniformity.