DSCOVR EPIC Level 1B Version 3

Description

Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) is a 10-channel spectro-radiometer (317 – 780 nm) onboard NOAA’s DSCOVR spacecraft located at the Earth-Sun Lagrange-1 (L-1) point, giving EPIC a unique angular perspective that is used in science applications to measure ozone, aerosols, cloud reflectivity, cloud height, vegetation properties, and UV radiation estimates at Earth's surface. EPIC provides 10 narrow-band spectral images of the entire sunlit face of the Earth using a 2048x2048 pixel Charge Coupled Device (CCD) detector coupled to a 30-cm aperture Cassegrain telescope. EPIC collects radiance data of the Earth and other sources through the Camera/Telescope Assembly. EPIC has a field of view (FOV) of 0.62 degrees, sufficient to image the entire Earth. Because of DSCOVR's tilted (Lissajous) orbit about the L‐1 point, the apparent angular size of the Earth varies from 0.45 to 0.53 degrees within its 6-month orbital period. Depending on the season, a complete set of per-band images is taken every 60 to 100 minutes. Accompanying instrument metadata and a series of calibrations and corrections are applied to properly convert the images to Level 1A format. The major corrections are for flat‐fielding and stray light. Flat-fielding is based on measurements with a uniform light source to measure the differences in sensitivity for each of the 4 million pixels. The resulting correction map is applied to the measured counts from the CCD. Stray light was measured in the laboratory using a series of small diameter light sources entering the telescope and imaged on the CCD. A similar set of measurements has been performed on orbit using the moon. The illumination of pixels outside the main diameter of the light source was measured to produce a detailed matrix map of the entire stray light function, and the resulting stray light correction is applied to every image. Other corrections are also applied based on laboratory measurements. For wavelengths longer than 550 nm there are back to front interference effects in the partially transparent CCD (etaloning) that must also be removed from measured radiance. The Level 1B products contain calibrated and geolocated EPIC images with ancillary metadata. These data products are in HDF5 and PNG format.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
33 EPIC level 1 A & B Calibration factors table https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/dscovr/DSCOVR_EPIC_Calibration_Factors_V03.pdf
21 Discover Article "The U.S. Deep Space Climate Observatory just sent back its first view of our home world, and it’s a beauty." By Robinson Meyer, July 20, 2015 https://www.discovermagazine.com/environment/a-spectacular-view-of-earth-unlike-any-seen-since-1972
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: April : 2016 : Earth Matters : Blog - The images were acquired by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on the DSCOVR satellite https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2016/04/
21 OPeNDAP data access for DSCOVR_EPIC_L1B_3 https://opendap.larc.nasa.gov/opendap/DSCOVR/EPIC/L1B/contents.html
21 NASA Captures "EPIC" Earth Image Article from July 20, 2015 https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/nasa-captures-epic-earth-image
21 A New Blue Marble By Scott Kelly, NASA Astronaut https://medium.com/@ObamaWhiteHouse/a-new-blue-marble-39c2fe1b5b3c?
21 ASDC Data and Information for DSCOVR https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/project/DSCOVR
21 Earth Observation Portal Page for DSCOVR Mission Information https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/d/dscovr
21 NASA Goddard Twitter Page https://twitter.com/NASAGoddard/status/676462280469553154
21 NASA Leadership Blog, DSCOVR’s First Light on the Future by Buzz Aldrin https://blogs.nasa.gov/leadership/2015/07/20/dscovrs-first-light-on-the-future/
21 NASA Studies High Clouds, Saharan Dust from EPIC View https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-studies-high-clouds-saharan-dust-from-epic-view
21 New York Times Blog "From a Million Miles Away, a New NASA ‘Blue Marble’ View of Earth" By Andrew C. Revkin https://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/from-a-million-miles-away-a-new-nasa-blue-marble-view-of-earth
21 How to cite ASDC data https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/citing-data
33 DSCOVR - SPEC - 007 EPIC Level 0 to Level 1A Processing Algorithm Description Document https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/dscovr/DSCOVR_EPIC_L0_L1A_Processing_V03.pdf
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: The Legacy of Nimbus: Image of the Day - No Longer Just for Astronauts https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/84542/the-legacy-of-nimbus
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: Zaatari Refugee Camp, Jordan: Image of the Day https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/81818/zaatari-refugee-camp-jordan
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: Space Debris: Image of the Day - Low and High Earth Orbital Debris Images https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/40173/space-debris
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: Seeing Through the Smoky Pall: Observations from a Grim Indonesian Fire Season - The Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera aboard the DSCOVR satellite acquired this view of smoke drifting over the region. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/IndonesianFires/page4.php
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: The Dark Side and the Bright Side: Image of the Day - A NASA camera aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) has captured a unique view of the Moon as it passed between the spacecraft and Earth https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/86353/the-dark-side-and-the-bright-side
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: Up, Up, and Away for DSCOVR - The journey has been a long one for the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/85288/up-up-and-away-for-dscovr
21 NOAA's Weather and Climate Toolkit https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/wct/
21 NOAA - National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) https://www.noaa.gov/
21 DSCOVR EPIC Visualization Tool https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/
33 EPIC Geolocation Quality Summary Algorithm Revision 06 Product Version 03 https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/dscovr/DSCOVR_EPIC_Geolocation_Quality_V03.pdf
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: An EPIC New View of Earth: Image of the Day - From one million miles away, the DSCOVR satellite returned its first view of the entire sunlit side of Earth https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/86257/an-epic-new-view-of-earth
33 EPIC Geolocation and Color Imagery Algorithm Revision 6 October 10, 2019 https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/dscovr/DSCOVR_EPIC_Geolocation_V03.pdf
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: Plumes From Africa's Volcanic Duo: Image of the Day - Located near the equator in central Africa, the Nyamuragira and Nyiragongo volcanoes are often obscured from satellite view by clouds https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/85273/plumes-from-africas-volcanic-duo
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: An EPIC Eclipse: Natural Hazards - The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) was built to provide a distinct perspective on our planet. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/87675/an-epic-eclipse
21 ASDC Direct Data Download for DSCOVR_EPIC_L1B_3 https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/data/DSCOVR/EPIC/L1B/
33 EPIC Data Format Control Book Specification, Version 3, September 19, 2018 https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/dscovr/DSCOVR_EPIC_Data_Format_Control_Book_V03.pdf
21 NOAA overview of DSCOVR: Deep Space Climate Observatory https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/dscovr-deep-space-climate-observatory
21 DOI data set landing page for DSCOVR_EPIC_L1B_3 https://doi.org/10.5067/EPIC/DSCOVR/L1B.003
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: 2016 Tournament Earth Champion: The Dark Side of the Moon - The images were acquired by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on the DSCOVR satellite https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2016/04/05/2016-tournament-earth-champion-the-dark-side-of-the-moon/
21 Earthdata Search for DSCOVR_EPIC_L1B_3 (NASA Application to search, discover, visualize, refine, and access NASA Earth Observation data) https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/granules?p=C1667168435-LARC_ASDC
21 The Atlantic Article "Al Gore Dreamed Up a Satellite—and It Just Took Its First Picture of Earth: The U.S. Deep Space Climate Observatory just sent back its first view of our home world, and it’s a beauty." By Robinson Meyer, July 20, 2015 https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/07/our-new-and-daily-view-of-the-blue-marble/399011/
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: Keeping on the Sunny Side of Earth https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/87167/keeping-on-the-sunny-side-of-earth
21 Search results for publications that cite this dataset by its DOI. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=10.5067%2FEPIC%2FDSCOVR%2FL1B.003

Tags

  • atmospheric-radiation
  • atmosphere
  • solar-activity
  • sun-earth-interactions
  • earth-science

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