Onboard spectral calibration and validation of the satellite calibration spectrometer on HY-1C

To monitor the spectral position drift, expansion and contraction of the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the satellite calibration spectrometer (SCS) of the HY-1C satellite during on-orbit operation, an onboard spectral calibration method based on a wavelength diffuser is proposed in this paper. This method uses the wavelength diffuser reflectance measured prelaunch as the standard spectrum, convolves it with the spectral response function of the SCS to obtain a reference spectrum, uses the measured data of the onboard SCS as the measured spectrum, and obtains the spectral drift and variation of the FWHM through spectral line matching. Generally, the spectral response function of a hyperspectral remote sensor follows a Gaussian model, and so does that of the SCS. The spectral calibration results obtained based on the onboard wavelength diffuser are validated and evaluated in comparison to calibration based on an oxygen absorption line. Preliminary results show that (1) the SCS spectral drift is negative, indicating a shift in the shortwave direction, and its absolute value is gradually decreasing with increasing on-orbit operation time; (2) the mean values of the central wavelength and FWHM errors between the two calibration methods are 0.08 nm and 0.20 nm, respectively, indicating that the spectral calibration method based on the wavelength diffuser has high accuracy and reliability; and (3) the SCS spaceborne spectral calibration error has the greatest impact on radiometric calibration in Band 18, with an uncertainty of 0.99%, while the uncertainty in the other bands is less than 0.33%, indicating that the spectral calibration uncertainty meets radiometric calibration accuracy requirements.