Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer detection assembly design and performance

The Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometers (SLSTRs) are high-accuracy radiometers selected for the Copernicus mission Sentinel-3 space component to provide sea surface temperature (SST) data continuity with respect to previous (Advanced) Along Track Scanning Radiometers [(A)ATSRs] for climatology. Many satellites are foreseen over a 20-year period, each with a 7.5-year lifetime. Sentinel-3A will be launched in 2015 and Sentinel-3B at least six months later, implying that two identical satellites will be maintained in the same orbit with a 180-deg phase delay. Each SLSTR has an improved design with respect to AATSR affording wider near-nadir and oblique view swaths (1400 and 740 km) for SST/land surface temperature global coverage at a 1-km spatial resolution (at SSP) with a daily revisit time (with two satellites), appropriate for both climate and meteorology. Cloud screening and other products are obtained with 0.5 km spatial resolution [at sub-satellite point (SSP)] in visible and short wave infrared (SWIR) bands, while two additional channels are included to monitor high temperature events such as forest fires. The two swaths are obtained with two conical scans and telescopes combined optically at a common focus, representing the input of a cooled focal plane assembly, where nine channels are separated with dichroic and are focalized on detectors with appropriate optical relays. IR and SWIR optics/detectors are cooled to 85 K by an active mechanical cryo-cooler with vibration compensation, while the VIS ones are maintained at a stable temperature. The opto-mechanical design and the expected electro-optical performance of the focal plane assembly are described and the model predictions at system level are compared with experimental data acquired in the vacuum chamber in flight representative thermal conditions or in the laboratory. (C) 2014 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)