MISR radiometric uncertainty analyses and their utilization within geophysical retrievals

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) is to be launched with the Earth Observing System EOS-AM1 spacecraft in 1999. Demanding specifications include a requirement that the instrument be calibrated, and placed on an accurate radiometric scale, to within 3% (1σ) uncertainty, for incident radiances near the upper end of a camera's dynamic range. Contributing factors to the uncertainty in radiance measurements include signal-to-noise ratio, goodness of fit of the calibration data to a quadratic equation, and quality of the experimental conditions (i.e. range and number of radiometric levels used to provide the calibration). These sources, as they are identified, are flagged as contributing to the absolute, relative band-to-band, relative camera-to-camera, or relative pixel-to-pixel radiance uncertainties. This paper summarizes the products and results from the uncertainty analysis of radiometric calibrations for the MISR. It also provides an example of a geophysical product retrieval that makes use of these data.