| The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) is a multi
purpose imaging instrument used for global measurement of
cloud cover, sea surface temperature, ice, snow and vegetation
cover and characteristics. This instrument is currently flying
on the NOAA series of spacecraft in a five channel version
. The five AVHRR channels are located in the visible and
infra red between 0.63 and 12.0 micrometers, with an instantaneous
footprint of 1.1 km at the sub satellite point. The internal
rotating scan mirror also views deep space and a thermal
calibration source on each rotation. Scanning is cross-track
with a range of ±55.37° about nadir.
Calibration of the IR channels is performed with 4
internal black bodies every scan line. The calibration
coefficients for the visible channels are determined
pre launch.
AVHRR scans across track of the satellite path in
continuous scan. There are 2048 Earth Views per scan
over a swath of ± 1447 km. The squared instantaneous
field of view has a size of 1.1 km at nadir. |
