Known Issues affecting Aqua MODIS Instrument performance
The sensor operational configuration, detector biases, and lookup table parameters are time-dependent quantities that have been changed to optimize sensor performance. Areas where caution must be exercised in the use of the current Level 1B product are:
- Non-functional or noisy Aqua detectors
- Incomplete Calibration for Band 21
- Thermal Leak (Band 5, 6, 7 & 26)
- Aqua Electronic cross-talk in Bands 5, 6, 7, & 26
- Band 33, 35, and 36 detector saturation
- Mis-registration between Aqua warm and cold focal planes.
Summary of Key MODIS Aqua Operational Configurations
The data provided in the file at the bottom of the page are aligned in rows within each calibration month from June 2002. The first row indicates whether science data is present in the Level 1 product for that day. Row two represents the value of the focal plane bias for the SW/MWIR for the preponderance of each day. Row three indicates whether the cooled focal planes were held at the nominal operating temperature of 83 K for the entire period of the day, whether they were uncontrolled over a portion of each orbit on that day and whether they were uncontrolled throughout the entire day. Row four indicates whether A-side or B-side electronics are being used for that day.
Known Issues affecting Terra MODIS Instrument performance
Prominent performance factors that complicated achieving optimum performance of the MODIS instrument are listed below. For a description of these effects, the projected impact on the L1B and L2 science, the instrument characteristic causing the effect, and the current mitigation strategy, access the following MCSTweb links. Areas of known concern with higher-level data appear below.
- Non - functional or noisy detectors
- Incomplete knowledge of sensor response across the scan (TEB)
- Incomplete knowledge of sensor response across the scan (RSB)
- Optical cross - talk (Band 31 into Bands 32 - 36)
- Electronic cross - talk (Bands 5 - 7, 20 - 26)
- Thermal leak (Bands 5, 6, 7 and 26)
- Non - uniform digital count (DN) bin - fill factors (bin - width)
- Channel to channel non - uniform response functions within a band
- Band 27 anomalous band width, anomalous gain
- Degradation in RSB (Bands 1 - 19, plus 26)
- Incomplete calibration for Band 21
- High Saturation Brightness Temperature in the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Bands (11 and 12 micrometers/Bands 31 and 32)
- Mirror rotation correlated noise
- Band 21(detector 1, product order) and Band 24(detector 1, product order) striping
- Mis - registration of 250 and 500 meter resolution bands to the 1000 meter resolution bands
- Mirror-side differences
- Spacecraft effects: removed data
- Polarization effects
Summary of Key MODIS Terra Operational Configurations
Consistent operational configurations existed from November 1, 2000 to June 15, 2001. The data are aligned by rows within each calendar month from February 2000. The first row indicates whether science data is present in the Level 1 product for that day. Row two represents the value of the focal plane bias for the SW/MWIR for the preponderance of each day. Row three indicates whether the cooled focal planes were held at the nominal operating temperature of 83 K for the entire period of the day, whether they were uncontrolled over a portion of each orbit on that day and whether they were uncontrolled throughout the entire day. Row four indicates whether A - side or B - side electronics are being used for that day
Additional MODIS Terra Operational Configurations
The summary of additional MODIS Operational Configurations page provides Terra MODIS operational configurations in time - ordered tabular form for the following operations: Vdet value, Earth - view sector state, software version number, blackbody temperature setting, and focal plane assembly temperature control. The column labeled "other" lists blackbody duty cycle, ECAL operations, gain changes, formatter changes, electronics side, spacecraft maneuvers, significant data loss periods, and cooler outgas times.