Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (what is it and what might be in the future)

1. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program(what is it and what might be in the future) David Clark (for Chris Elvidge) WGISS 25 Sanya, China February, 23, 2008

2. Rationale For Satellite Remote Sensing of Nocturnal Lighting • A unique indicator of human activity. • Rich in spatial, spectral and temporal variability. • Not widely exploited to date. • Can be used as a proxy for the density of development, energy consumption, population count, and economic activity.

3. The U.S. Air Force DMSP) Operational Line scan System (OLS) has a Unique capability to collect low-light imagery. Polar orbiting 3000 km swath 2.7 km ground sample distance (GSD) Two spectral bands: visible and thermal Spectrum (um) : 0.5-0.9 and 10 - 12 Nightly global coverage Flown since 1972 Will continue till ~2012 Visible Thermal http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/dmsp/download.html

4. 1992 = blue1998 = green2003 = redDark North Korea and swirl of squid fishing boats offshore.

5. BeijingRegion1992 = blue1998 = green2003 = red

6. What do moderate spatial resolution satellite observed nighttime lights look like?

7. TokyoDigital camera image from the International Space Station.

8. Airborne camera data helps define both spatial resolution and detection limits Downtown Los Angeles.One and a half meterresolution nighttime visible band imagery acquired from and altitude of 12 km by the NASA ER-2. Camera was radiometrically calibrated by NASA- ARC.

9. NightSat Observing the human energy footprint NightSat Background – NASA initiative to fly a high resolution panchromatic / multi-spectral imager. NDGC (Chris Elvidge) developed the mission concept and is a key member of the science team. Mission Objective – Enable assessment of energy, economic, environment and land-use policy decisions through observation of human settlements and industry. Status – Under consideration for NASA Venture class mission. Few observations from space focus explicitly on human activity. The NRC Decadal Survey emphasizes the need for direct observations of human activity and its impact on the Earth system. NightSat will have extremely high strategic value to science and energy policy. Data will provide a critical spatial component for models and other satellite data required for sourcingcarbon emissions, carbon trading verification,assessing globalpopulation, economic development and environmental quality.

10. NightSat Observing the human energy footprint The right spatial / spectral resolution to resolve & discern urban and industrial activity for assessing carbon emissions DMSP- 2700 meters Simulated NightSat- 50 meters Multispectral low light ISS Digital Photo Chicago at night Simulated VIIRS 742 meter monochromatic NightSat 50 meters panchromatic

11. NightSat Observing the human energy footprint Pollution and Atmospheric Composition: NightSat will provide an on-the-ground source map for emissions from urban and industrial areas that have a major impact on atmospheric composition and local air quality. Urbanization/Industry Coincide with NO2 in China DMSP/OLS “City Lights” OMI - NO2

12. Summary of NightSat Requirements • Global coverage (polar orbiting) • ~20 day repeat cycle • Randomize lunar conditions • Multiple opportunities for a cloud-free observation • Overpass at 8-10:00 pm local time • 50-100 m GSD • Detection limits of E-8 W/cm2/sr/um or better • 12 to 16 bit quantitization • Thermal band(s) for cloud and fire screening • Repeatable radiance calibration procedure • Multispectral