AIRS visible light channels: Lessons from 15 years of using internal calibration sources, vicarious calibration, and the use of deep convective clouds (Conference Presentation)

Abstract

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on the EOS Aqua Spacecraft was launched on May 4, 2002 and is currently fully operational. AIRS, in addition to the infrared system comprised of 2378 channels with wavelengths ranging from 3.7-15.4 um, has 4 Visible/Near-Infrared channels and an on-board calibration source utilizing 3 independent lamps to characterize the change in the visible response over time. One of the key measurements related to climate change is the measurement of the Reflected Short-Wave Solar radiation (RSW). The AIRS visible light channels can be used to accurately measure the stability of the RSW. We describe our experience from 15 years of AIRS data with using internal calibration lamps, vicarious calibration, MODIS cross-calibration, and Deep Convective Clouds (DCCs) for the calibration and stabilization of the AIRS visible light data. The result is the DCC stabilized anomaly trend of the RSW measured with AIRS.