Earth Observations from the Deep Space: 10 Years of the DSCOVR Mission

The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), active since 2015, is stationed at the first Lagrange point (L1) approximately 1.5 million kilometres from Earth towards the Sun, offering a vantage point that has significantly advanced our Earth observation capabilities. Its unique position allows for multiple daily captures of the entire sunlit face of Earth, providing data from sunrise to sunset near the backscattering direction. DSCOVR is equipped with the NASA Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR). EPIC is a CCD camera with 10 narrowband filters that cover the UV, visible and near-IR spectra and includes two oxygen absorption channels. NISTAR continuously measures outgoing radiation from the sunlit face of Earth in 3 broad bands providing total (0.2-100 um), solar reflected (0.2-4 um), near-IR (0.7-4 um) radiation. In addition, it also has a photodiode channel (0.2 – 1.1 um).

Since 2015, the very good and stable radiometric performance of EPIC and NISTAR along with evolving processing algorithms has resulted in a steady growth of science analysis and applications in the atmosphere, land and ocean disciplines. On the eve of the DSCOVR’s 10th anniversary, we invite contributions to summarize the present state of knowledge of the Earth observations from the unique L1 orbit.

To further explore and expand on these developments, the scope of this research topic is defined to encompass the following themes:

• EPIC and NISTAR radiometric characterization and calibration;

• Monitoring and analysis of ozone, sulfur dioxide from volcanic eruptions, and other trace gases;

• Algorithms and data analysis for aerosols and clouds as observed by EPIC;

• Investigation of oceanic properties and terrestrial vegetation characteristics;

• Utilizing EPIC and NISTAR data for extended scientific research;

• Viewing Earth as an exoplanet from a deep space perspective.

We also invite conceptual studies on the DSCOVR successor missions addressing trace gases, air quality, climate research and application needs of the future.

Keywords: DSCOVR, EPIC, NISTAR, earth observations, radiometric calibration, atmospheric monitoring, aerosols, clouds, trace gases, remote sensing, climate research

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.