Radiometric calibration and monitoring of NOAA AVHRR data for ISCCP

The methodology developed to monitor the radiometric calibration of NOAA AVHRR data and to normalize succeeding polar orbiters for the International Satellite Cloud Project (ISCCP) is described. Results are given for NOAA-7, -8, and -9 Channel 1 (visible) data. The successful normalization of NOAA-8, and -9, to NOAA-7 permits the ISCCP calibration standard to be maintained over time. A correction for the degradation of NOAA-9 data and an absolute calibration for the entire ISCCP dataset are presented.