Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
NASA · Public domain · source
Name	Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
Operator	National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Country	United States
Launched	1978–2011
Wavelength	Visible, Near-Infrared, Thermal Infrared
Spatial resolution	1.1 km (some bands)
Detectors	Scanning radiometer
Applications	Meteorology, Oceanography, Land Surface Monitoring

Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer is a family of spaceborne scanning radiometers developed for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration polar-orbiting platforms and deployed on series such as TIROS-N and NOAA-19. It provided multispectral measurements for operational National Weather Service forecasting, European Space Agency synergies, and research at institutions like NASA, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The instrument contributed to long-term climate records used by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and academic centers including University of Colorado and Columbia University.

Overview

The sensor series delivered visible, near-infrared, and thermal infrared radiances from sun-synchronous polar orbits used by Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, Joint Polar Satellite System, and operational centers such as Met Office and Japan Meteorological Agency. Early units built by contractors working with ITT Corporation and Hughes Aircraft Company supported continuity from the earlier AVHRR/2 generation through later flight models coordinated with programs like Global Climate Observing System and Group on Earth Observations. Data served assimilation systems at European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction, and research projects at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology.

Instrument Design and Specifications

The instrument used a cross-track scanning design with multiple detectors and a rotating mirror assembly developed with engineering input from Raytheon Technologies and laboratories at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Typical specifications included five spectral bands spanning visible, near-infrared, and two thermal infrared channels with nominal spatial sampling near 1.1 km at nadir, radiometric performance characterized for use in systems like Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation, and on-board calibration references coordinated with payload teams from Argonne National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. The optical train, detectors, and electronics reflected technology transfer among contractors including Fairchild Corporation and testing at facilities such as Ames Research Center and Langley Research Center.

Data Products and Processing

Raw telemetry was processed into calibrated radiances and geolocated brightness temperatures by operational processors at NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service and archived at centers including National Centers for Environmental Information and USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. Standard products included top-of-atmosphere reflectances, sea surface temperature retrievals, cloud mask and cloud-top temperature fields delivered to users such as National Snow and Ice Data Center, European Space Agency data portals, and climate reanalysis projects at National Center for Atmospheric Research and Princeton University. Processing chains implemented algorithms from researchers at Harvard University, Yale University, and University of Maryland and interoperability standards used by Group on Earth Observations and Committee on Earth Observation Satellites.

Applications and Uses

AVHRR data supported operational meteorology at National Weather Service, oceanography at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, terrestrial ecology at Smithsonian Institution projects, and cryosphere monitoring by Norwegian Polar Institute and British Antarctic Survey. Long-term records informed climate trend analyses used by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change authors and hydrology studies at US Geological Survey. Applications span sea surface temperature mapping for fisheries managed by Food and Agriculture Organization, fire detection support for United Nations Environment Programme, vegetation indices for agricultural monitoring used by World Bank programs, and disaster response coordination involving Federal Emergency Management Agency and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Calibration and Validation

Calibration relied on on-board internal blackbody references, vicarious calibration campaigns conducted by teams from NOAA, NASA, and academic partners at University of Arizona and University of Colorado Boulder, and cross-calibration with contemporaneous sensors like MODIS on Terra and Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor. Validation efforts used ground-based networks such as AERONET, ship-based radiometers operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and field campaigns coordinated with institutes including National Center for Atmospheric Research and Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory. Long-term stability assessments informed climate data records curated by National Climatic Data Center and policy evaluations by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change participants.

Operational History and Satellites

AVHRR instruments flew on successive polar-orbiting satellites including TIROS-N, the NOAA-7 through NOAA-19 series, and supported overlap strategies with MetOp missions operated by EUMETSAT. The succession enabled multi-decadal datasets from the late 1970s through the 2010s, with mission operations coordinated by NOAA Satellite and Information Service and international partnerships involving European Space Agency and EUMETSAT. Major milestones included routine data dissemination via Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System and integration into reanalysis projects at European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Category:Satellite sensors Category:Remote sensing instruments Category:Earth observation