Earth Observation System (EOS) optical multispectral imaging sensors provide images of the earth at various spectral and spatial resolutions, in the visible (VIS) and infrared (IR) regions of the solar spectrum. Accurate knowledge of extraterrestrial solar spectral irradiance and its variations with time, are needed to trace sensor calibration in space, and for the development of terrestrial atmospheric models needed in data validation. A brief review of the extraterrestrial solar VIS/IR spectral irradiance available in the literature will be reviewed, and the need to develop an extraterrestrial solar spectral irradiance for the EOS studies will be pointed out. The solar calibration of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), earth-viewing sensors will be discussed. Observed variations in the solar constant (solar irradiance, at the mean sun-earth distance of one astronomical unit, integrated over all wavelengths), and solar spectral irradiance with solar activity and its implications for EOS studies also will be discussed.

Date Published: 1 August 1991
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 1493, Calibration of Passive Remote Observing Optical and Microwave Instrumentation, (1 August 1991); doi: 10.1117/12.46706

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1493:
Calibration of Passive Remote Observing Optical and Microwave Instrumentation
Bruce W. Guenther, Editor(s)