Quality Assurance
Last Update: December 23, 2010
MODAPS Services Quality Assurance staff provide an independent check of
MODIS Atmosphere science data products, with an aim to catch any production
or obvious science problems early on.
While the immediate goal of MODIS Quality Assurance is data product
validation, ongoing investigation could potentially uncover issues with
science algorithms, instrument calibration, or instrument performance.
Activities "upstream" of product generation (instrument calibration and
on-orbit instrument operation and performance) have a direct bearing on
the suitability of data products for use by researchers and must be
considered in the overall product quality assessment. Ultimately, the
goal of Quality Assurance is to identify any issue that affects generation
of quality MODIS data products.
MODIS Atmosphere Quality Assurance consists of two broad categories,
Operational QA and
Science QA.
Operational Quality Assurance
Routine evaluation of a selection of MODIS Atmosphere data products is
performed to ensure that processing is proceeding as expected, with
reasonable science content. No attempt at estimating product uncertainty
or scientific validity is made; rather, screening is performed in order to
quickly detect any obvious anomalies in the data processing stream.
Science Quality Assurance
In-depth evaluation of Level 2 and higher product MODIS Atmosphere data
products is performed routinely, but less frequently than Operational QA
screening.
Science QA also generates and evaluates trending plots, diagnostic images,
and product summaries to support longer-term product investigations by the
MODIS Atmosphere Science Team.
Staff
Please contact Xin-Min Hua
(301-614-5140) with any QA questions or suggestions.
(Please note that
MODLAND QA
performs Quality Assurance for MODIS Land science data products.)
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