Vicarious Calibration Of Meteorological Satellite Sensors In The Visible And Near-Infrared Regions Of The Spectrum

The basic physical principles underlying three common techniques for the vicarious calibration of the post-launch performance of meteorological satellite sensors are briefly reviewed. The techniques considered are: (a) using ''radiometrically stable'' desert calibration targets which yield relative degradation rates; (b) congruent path aircraft/satellite radiance measurements which yield absolute calibrations; and (C) radiative transfer model simulation methods which yield absolute calibrations. The applications of the three techniques will be illustrated, using the visible( Channel 1: approximate to 0.58-0.68 mu m) and near-infrared( Channel 2: approximate to 0.72-1.1 mu m) channels of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer(AVHRR) flown on the NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites(POES) as an example. The establishment of inter-satellite calibration linkages, and cross-satellite sensor calibration will be briefly mentioned.