Evaluation of systematic errors on polarization parameters from POLDER instrument data for use in CLARREO Pathfinder-VIIRS intercalibration

One of the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory Pathfinder (CPF) mission’s science objectives is to intercalibrate reflective solar bands NOAA-20 Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument against high-accuracy CPF measurements utilizing coincident, co-angled, co-located footprints acquired over diverse Earth targets. To alleviate effect high polarization sensitivity select VIIRS channels on intercalibration analysis, team will limit low-polarized scene types, which be identified based an empirical estimation their degree (DOP) angle (AOP) using Polarization Directionality Earth’s Reflectance (POLDER) data. We describe methodology for evaluating systematic errors in DOP AOP Earth-reflected radiances POLDER’s polarized investigates potential impact CPF-VIIRS uncertainty. The were found <0.01 <2.2 deg AOP, have a negligible