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Use of the Moon for Calibration and Characterization of MODIS, SeaWiFS, and VIRS

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Earth Science Satellite Remote Sensing

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Abstract

The need for long term global data sets to enable quantitative studies of changes in the Earth’s climate leads directly to a requirement for a radiometric calibration source that is stable over several decades (and possibly several centuries) to levels of better than one part in a thousand, that can be readily used on-orbit and that is suitable for inter-comparison of a wide variety of imagng radiometers. For the visible through shortwave-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum the moon meets this requirement. It’s surface is stable over thousands of years, the sun’s illumination is well characterized, and, if care is taken to account for changes in phase and libration, it can be used for radiometric calibration, calibration transfer and intercomparison of sensors.

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, 21250

    Dr. William Barnes

  2. Earth Sciences Directorate, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771

    Mr. Xiaoxiong Xiong

  3. Science Applications International Corperation, Beltsville, MD, 20705

    Mr. Robert Eplee

  4. NASA GSFC, USA

    Dr. Junqiang Sun

  5. Science Systems and Applications, Inc., 10210, Greenbelt Rd., Lanham, MD

    Mr. Cheng-Hsuan Lyu

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  1. Dr. William Barnes
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  2. Mr. Xiaoxiong Xiong
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  3. Mr. Robert Eplee
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  4. Dr. Junqiang Sun
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  5. Mr. Cheng-Hsuan Lyu
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computational Sciences, George Mason University, USA

    John J. Qu (Technical Director of EastFIRE Lab) (Technical Director of EastFIRE Lab)

  2. Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, USA

    Wei Gao (Group Leader/Research Scientist) (Group Leader/Research Scientist)

  3. Center for Earth Observing and Space Research, George Mason University, USA

    Menas Kafatos (Director and Dean) (Director and Dean)

  4. School of Computational Sciences, George Mason University, USA

    Menas Kafatos (Director and Dean) (Director and Dean)

  5. NASA GSFC, NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP), NOAA, Code 920, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA

    Robert E. Murphy (Project Scientist) (Project Scientist)

  6. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA

    Vincent V. Salomonson (MODIS Science Team Leader) (MODIS Science Team Leader)

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© 2006 Tsinghua University Press, Beijing and Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg

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Barnes, W., Xiong, X., Eplee, R., Sun, J., Lyu, CH. (2006). Use of the Moon for Calibration and Characterization of MODIS, SeaWiFS, and VIRS. In: Qu, J.J., Gao, W., Kafatos, M., Murphy, R.E., Salomonson, V.V. (eds) Earth Science Satellite Remote Sensing. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-37294-3_6

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