Latest News
As an FYI, MCST continues to monitor the impact of the Aqua safe mode event earlier this year. We have noted changes in the SWIR bands (bands 5-7 and 26).
*Update
Band 6 detector 4 (product order) has been marked dead in the QA LUT as of 2022090.1600 (March 31, 2022). This update was delivered for processing on June 15, 2022, so additional processing will be required for this change to be made in historic data.
We are continuing to monitor the remaining SWIR detectors for any further changes in performance.
The Aqua spacecraft entered a safe state after an unexpected power controller swap on March 31, 2022 (2022/090 @17:59:08z). This caused the MODIS instrument to also enter safe mode. After analysis and recovery of the spacecraft, MODIS was transitioned to full science mode via outgas from April 13-15, 2022. Aqua MODIS returned to nominal temperatures and operational status for all bands on April 17, 2022 03:00:00z. MCST will perform additional calibrations and will continue to monitor the performance of the detectors following the safe mode event.
At the two links below, you can find the latest information on the timelines of the Terra and Aqua Constellation exits.
Terra: https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/individual.php?news_id=100378
Aqua: https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/individual.php?news_id=100389
On February 22, 2022 (2022/053), Aqua FOT reported data losses occuring at regular intervals from MODIS and AIRS science data. The data errors were determined to be due to the solid-state recorder (SSR) where a particular area of memory had failed. The recovery of operations involved marking the area in memory as unusable and resetting the SSR and Formatter/Multiplexer Unit (FMU). The reset was performed on March 23, 2022 and MODIS returned to nominal operation later that day (2022/082 19:47:31).
The MODIS instrument onboard the Terra spacecraft reported a reset of its command and format processors on March 15, 2022 (2022/074 @08:54z). Analysis has shown this was a single-event upset (SEU). The recovery efforts included uploading several patches to the MODIS formatter to return the instrument to its pre-reset configuration. The required patches were uploaded from March 15-17th. As of March 17, 2022 (2022/076 @02:19:04) MODIS was restored to its nominal configuration.
MODIS Characterization Support Team
The MODIS Characterization Support Team (MCST) is dedicated to the production of a high quality MODIS calibration product. This product is a precursor to every geophysical science product. MCST works for the Science Team Leader and is responsible for developing and maintaining the calibration product (L1B algorithm).
Calibration
Collection 6 has been under development for a number of years. MCST, in consultation with representatives of the science disciplines, developed improvements to the calibration algorithms and methodolgies to handle known issues with the aging MODIS sensors. Summary talks of the proposed Collection 6 changes have been delivered at the MODIS science team meetings over the last few years.
L1B
Current L1B LUT Versions:
Terra C6: 6.1.26.68; Terra C6.1: 6.2.2.67; Aqua C6: 6.1.37.71; Aqua C6.1: 6.2.1.66