National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Airborne Sounder Testbed-Interferometer (NAST-I)

Daniel Cousins; William L. Smith

doi:10.1117/12.279075

31 October 1997 National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Airborne Sounder Testbed-Interferometer (NAST-I)

Daniel Cousins, William L. Smith

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 3127, Application of Lidar to Current Atmospheric Topics II; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.279075
Event: Optical Science, Engineering and Instrumentation '97, 1997, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

An airborne fourier transform interferometric sounder is being developed to perform atmospheric measurements for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System. The interferometer is designed to provide high spectral resolution, low noise data from the NASA ER-2 aircraft suitable for synthesizing and comparing data of potential future satellite-borne sounding instruments, such as AIRS, IMAS, ITS or IASI. The collection and scanning optics provide a 7.5 degree field of view over a cross-track field of regard of +/- 48.2 degrees. The interferometer operates with +/- 2.0 cm optical path difference (OPD) over the spectral range from 3.6-16.1 micrometers . Dynamic alignment is performed using a concentric HeNe laser. Three separate filter/lens/detector assemblies are cooled to 65K using integral rotary stirling coolers. Most of the optical instrumentation is contained within a pressurized N2 enclosure to minimize the effects of descent condensation. The instrument processor/controller is based on a 133 MHz Pentium CPU supporting a dedicated digital signal processor for real-time x16 data decimation. Noise performance referred to a 250 K scene is estimated to be 0.10 K at 14.9 micrometers , 0.15 K at 8.7 micrometers and 0.2 K at 4.7 micrometers .

Citation Download Citation

Daniel Cousins and William L. Smith "National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Airborne Sounder Testbed-Interferometer (NAST-I)", Proc. SPIE 3127, Application of Lidar to Current Atmospheric Topics II, (31 October 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.279075

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