On-board calibration of the spectral response functions of the Advanced Baseline Imager's thermal IR channels by observation of the planet Mercury

Abstract

The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) will image Earth in 16 spectral channels, including 10 thermal IR (TIR) channels. The instantaneous field of view (IFOV) of each TIR detector element is (56 μrad) 2 . The ABI has an onboard fullaperture blackbody, the Internal Calibration Target (ICT), used in conjunction with deep space looks to calibrate the ABI's TIR channels. The ICT is only observed over a small range of temperatures and at one specific pair of reflection angles from the ABI's two scan mirrors. The sunlit area on Mercury's surface underfills the IFOV's of the ABI's TIR channels, but has a much higher range of characteristic temperatures than the ICT, so its radiation is weighted more strongly toward shorter wavelengths. Comparison of a TIR channel's responses to the ICT and to Mercury provides a sensitive means to evaluate variations in spectral response functions among detector elements, across the ABI's field of regard, and among instruments on different satellites. Observations of Mercury can also verify co-registration among the ABI's atmospheric absorption channels that do not observe features on Earth's surface. The optimal conditions for viewing Mercury typically occur during one or two intervals of a few weeks each year when it traverses the ABI's FOR (-10.5 o o ) with an elongation angle from the Sun of at least 20.5 o .