Mission Operations Review

February 8-10, 2010Cordoba, ARGENTINA

SECTION 16.x

Aquarius Science Commissioning and Acceptance

Draft 2 Prepared by:

Gary Lagerloef, Aquarius PIDavid Le Vine, Aquarius DPI

+ Science Team

Vrsn 1 100105

2 of 7February 8-10, 2010

Section 01 – Welcome – Agenda – MRB IntroductionMission Operations Review

• Post-launch in-orbit checkout simulation: During the period from launch to L+25 days, the science team will compute simulated Tb and σ0 based on the final orbit maneuvers (Science Task 1).

– These data will provide “Expected Values” for each beam along-track to compare quantitatively with observations for both the engineering and science acceptance analyses.

• The science team will carry out an analysis sequence (Science Tasks 2-7) at each stage of the instrument turn-on sequence.

• Acceptance criteria are limited:

– The timeline only allows for one 7-day cycle after the instrument is fully turned on.

– Assess whether the data are “as expected” in qualitative terms and the sensor is “calibrate-able”.

– Gross geographical and geophysical features are as expected, biases can be removed, stability is reasonable, polarization differences are appropriate, etc. (details below)

Science Commissioning Approach

3 of 7February 8-10, 2010

Section 01 – Welcome – Agenda – MRB IntroductionMission Operations Review

• Engineering Evaluation of the Instrument Complete– All internal checks are complete and nominal– All instrument L3 requirements are met

• Radiometer Specific Criteria– Radiometer thermal calibration verified (correction for changes in temperature)– Operation is free of gain glitches– Antenna Pointing Verified (scenes and transitions where expected) – Stable behavior (repeatable signals over constant scenes and crossovers)– No detectable interference from Scatterometer or CONAE instruments– Predictable Science Response (consistent with simulations)

• Land - ocean features evident in radiometer brightness temperature (Tb) both in contrast and location; • Relative polarization levels (V compared to H) for each beam are consistent with the emissivity model;• Relative levels of Tb among beams is consistent with emissivity model (e.g. V-pol signal increasing

and H-pol decreasing with increased incidence angle); • The 3rd Stokes signal consistent with expectation (small signal varying with Faraday rotation);

– Reasonable initial “first-look” 7-day salinity map consistent with climatology• Scatterometer Specific Criteria

– Repeatable behavior

– σ0 sensitivity to wind speed within expectations for each channel.

Preliminary Acceptance Criteria

4 of 7February 8-10, 2010

Section 01 – Welcome – Agenda – MRB IntroductionMission Operations Review

Aquarius Commissioning Science Tasks

5 of 7February 8-10, 2010

Section 01 – Welcome – Agenda – MRB IntroductionMission Operations Review

Science Task 1

Task: Generate simulated data for radiometer (TA) and scatterometer (sigma0);

• Simulation reflects actual orbit and spacecraft attitude;• 7-10 days of data simulated;• Prepared 5 days prior to instrument turn-on (for use by

engineering team) and updated as necessary.• Available to engineering team on location at MOC.

Objectives:• Engineering: Simulated TA and sigma0 for the

engineering team to use during on-orbit check out to judge reasonableness of the actual measured signals;

• Science: A reference signal for use by science team to begin evaluation of the science quality of the first signals.

Representative Roles and Responsibilities:• Wentz: Radiometer TA simulations;• Yueh: Scatterometer Sigma0 simulations.

6 of 7February 8-10, 2010

Section 01 – Welcome – Agenda – MRB IntroductionMission Operations Review

Science Task 2

Task: Examine radiometer data to judge whether or not the radiometer data is reasonable

• Begins on day 4 after radiometer is completely turned on;• Continues through end of commissioning (PLAR);• Initially, thermal stability may not be ideal.

Objectives:• Collect reference data prior to the turn on of other instruments (Scat and CONAE) as baseline to judge interference;• Collect data to assess acceptance criteria for PLAR;

Representative Roles and Responsibilities:• Wentz: Examine TA to asses pointing accuracy;• Le Vine: Evaluate T3 and retrieved Faraday rotation;• Ruf: Evaluate RFI environment and detection algorithm;• Brown: Compare histograms of actual and model TB;• Lagerloef: Start processing AVDS matchups.

7 of 7February 8-10, 2010

Section 01 – Welcome – Agenda – MRB IntroductionMission Operations Review

Science Tasks 3 - 5

Task: Examine scatterometer data during turn on of the instrument• Days 5-7 during 3-day turn-on sequence for the scatterometer;• Radiometer is on and collecting data.

Objectives:• Examine radiometer data for evidence of scatterometer interference (engineering team will also be looking at raw data);• Examine scatterometer data for reasonable behavior.

Representative Roles and Responsibilities• Yueh and scatterometer engineering team: Examine loopback power, noise only measurements and echo power;• Yueh: Analyze correlation of sigma0 with winds (NCEP).• Radiometer team (Wentz, Le Vine, Brown, others): Examine radiometer data before and after scatterometer turn-on for evidence of interference.

8 of 7February 8-10, 2010

Section 01 – Welcome – Agenda – MRB IntroductionMission Operations Review

Science Task 6

Task: Examine Aquarius instrument data (scatterometer and radiometer) for nominal behavior

• Days 8-10 after both instruments are turned on completely;• First nominal operation;

Objectives:• Continue with radiometer science data evaluation begun in Task 2; • Begin evaluation of scatterometer data in nominal mode;• First look at instrument stability;• Comparison of data at reference sites and at cross-over points.

Representative Roles and Responsibilities• Ruf: Collect data for first look at “vicarious” calibration;• Le Vine: Compare Faraday rotation retrieved from T3 with in situ (ground sounders) truth;• Wentz: Pointing accuracy and effect of Sun;• Yueh: First look at roughness correction for radiometer.

9 of 7February 8-10, 2010

Section 01 – Welcome – Agenda – MRB IntroductionMission Operations Review

Science Task 7

Task: Nominal Aquarius instrument operation (radiometer and scatterometer) and CONAE instrument turn on;

• Day 11 - TBD: Nominal Aquarius operation• CONAE instruments start turn on.• Science team activities continue from previous tasks.

Objectives:• Examine radiometer data for evidence of interference from CONAE instruments;• Generate first 7-day global map of SSS• Continue to collect data to assess acceptance criteria for PLAR.

Representative Roles and Responsibilities• Science Team: Coordinate data collection with CONAE instrument turn-on to search for evidence of interference;• Lagerloef: Generate reference SSS map from Argo data and de-bias Aquarius SSS output;• Yueh: Roughness correction and correlation of sigma0 with NCEP and other sources of data on winds.

10 of 7February 8-10, 2010

Section 01 – Welcome – Agenda – MRB IntroductionMission Operations Review

• 1 March 2010: Science simulator – CY2007 Level 2 (swath) and Level 3 (gridded map) files released

• 9-11 March 2010: Aquarius algorithm science team workshop, Santa Rosa, CA

• 30 March 2010 until Launch: – Operational simulator generates daily files, – Analysis and evaluation by science team

• 1 April – to – ORR: – Science team develops and tests Aquarius commissioning phase analysis tools.– Use simulators and tools to develop and test case studies, anomalies and

rehearsals.

• 19-21 July 2010: Aquarius/SAC-D Science Team meeting, Seattle

• ORR: Final commissioning phase plan; analysis tools tested and ready.

Implementation Milestones