The Marine Optical BuoY (MOBY) Radiometric Calibration and Uncertainty Budget for Ocean Color Satellite Sensor Vicarious Calibration

Published

November 1, 2007

Author(s)

Steven W. Brown, S Flora, M Feinholz, M Yarbrough, Terrance Houlihan, D Peters, Yong S. Kim, J Mueller, Bettye C. Johnson, Dennis Clark

Abstract

For the past decade, the Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY), an autonomous radiometric buoy stationed in the waters off Lanai, Hawaii, has been the primary in-water oceanic observatory for the vicarious calibration of U. S. satellite ocean color sensors, including the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) instruments on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration s (NASA s) Terra and Aqua satellites. The MOBY vicarious calibration of these sensors supports international efforts to develop a global, multi-year time series of consistently calibrated ocean color data products. A critical component of the MOBY program is establishing radiometric traceability to the International System of Units (SI) through standards provided by the U. S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). A detailed uncertainty budget is a core component of traceable metrology. We present the MOBY uncertainty budget for up-welling radiance and discuss approaches in new instrumentation to reduce the uncertainties in in situ water-leaving radiance measurements.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of the SPIE | 2007 |

Conference Dates

September 17-21, 2007

Conference Location

Florence, IT

Conference Title

SPIE

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1117/12.737400

Keywords

calibration, Marine Optical Buoy, ocean color, satellite sensor, uncertainty

Citation

Brown, S. , Flora, S. , Feinholz, M. , Yarbrough, M. , Houlihan, T. , Peters, D. , Kim, Y. , Mueller, J. , Johnson, B. and Clark, D. (2007), The Marine Optical BuoY (MOBY) Radiometric Calibration and Uncertainty Budget for Ocean Color Satellite Sensor Vicarious Calibration, Proceedings of the SPIE | 2007 |, Florence, IT, [online], https://doi.org/10.1117/12.737400 (Accessed October 22, 2025)