Calibration of the Visible and Near-Infrared Channels of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) After Launch

The relative degradation in time of the visible(channel 1: approx.0.58-0.6 microns) and near-infrared(channel 2: approx. O.72-1.1 microns) channels of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer(AVHRR), onboard the NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites(POES), has been determined, using the southeastern Libyan desert(21-23 deg N latitude; 28- 29 deg E longitude) as a time-invariant calibration target. A statistical procedure was used on the reflectance data for the two channels from the B3 data of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project(ISCCP) to obtain the degradation rates for the AVERRs on NOAA-7, -9, and -11 spacecraft. The degradation rates per year for channels 1 and 2 are respectively: 3.6% and 4.3%(NOAA-7); 5.9% and 3.5%(NOAA-9); and 1.2% and 2.0%(NOAA-11). The use of the degradation rates thus determined, in conjunction with 'absolute' calibrations obtained from congruent aircraft and satellite measurements, in the development of correction algorithms is illustrated with the AVHRR on the NOAA-9 spacecraft.