The Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) active-cavity radiometers
are used to measure the incoming solar, reflected solar, and emitted longwave
radiation from the Earth and its atmosphere. The radiometers are carried by the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Radiation Budget Satellite
(ERBS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's NOAA-9 and
NOAA-10 spacecraft. Four Earth-viewing nonscanning active-cavity radiometers
are carried by each platform. Two of the radiometers are sensitive to radiation in
the spectral range from 0.2 to 50 μm, while the other two radiometers are sensitive
to radiation in the spectral range from 0.2 to 5.0 μm. Each set of radiometers
comes in a wide-field-of-view (WFOV) and a medium-field-of-view
(MFOV) configuration. The cavities of the shortwave (visible) radiometers are
covered with a Suprasil® hemispherical dome to filter out the incoming longwave
radiation.
Knowledge of the optical and physical properties of the radiometers allows
their responses to be predicted using a low-order physical model. A high-level,
dynamic electrothermal end-to-end model which accurately predicts the
radiometers dynamic output has also been completed. This latter model is used
to numerically simulate the calibration procedures of the actual instruments. With
calibration of the end-to-end model complete, a simulation of a phenomena
referred to as the "solar blip" is conducted to investigate the instruments'
responses to steep transient events. The solar blip event occurs when direct solar
radiation is briefly incident to the active-cavity radiometric channels as the
spacecraft passes into and out of the Earth's shadow.
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