Early evaluation of the VIIRS calibration, cloud mask and surface reflectance Earth data records

• We provide an early assessment of the VIIRS Surface Reflectance (SR) and Cloud Mask.
• Both products are fundamental in the derivation of the downstream land products.
• The VIIRS instrument is found to perform well.
• Quantitative performances of VIIRS SR are presented and compared to MODIS SR.
• Some application of VIIRS SR to agricultural monitoring is presented.

Surface reflectance is one of the key products from VIIRS and as with MODIS, is used in developing several higher-order land products. The VIIRS Surface Reflectance (SR) Intermediate Product (IP) is based on the heritage MODIS Collection 5 product (Vermote, El Saleous, & Justice, 2002). The quality and character of surface reflectance depend on the accuracy of the VIIRS Cloud Mask (VCM), the aerosol algorithms and the adequate calibration of the sensor. The focus of this paper is the early evaluation of the VIIRS SR product in the context of the maturity of the operational processing system, the Interface Data Processing System (IDPS). After a brief introduction, the paper presents the calibration performance and the role of the surface reflectance in calibration monitoring. The analysis of the performance of the cloud mask with a focus on vegetation monitoring (no snow conditions) shows typical problems over bright surfaces and high elevation sites. Also discussed is the performance of the aerosol input used in the atmospheric correction and in particular the artifacts generated by the use of the Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System. Early quantitative results of the performance of the SR product over the AERONET sites show that with the few adjustments recommended, the accuracy is within the threshold specifications. The analysis of the adequacy of the SR product (Land PEATE adjusted version) in applications of societal benefits is then presented. We conclude with a set of recommendations to ensure consistency and continuity of the JPSS mission with the MODIS Land Climate Data Record.