Optimization of the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite II Global Imager channels by use of radiative transfer calculations

摘要

The channel specifications of the Global Imager onboard the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite II have been determined by extensive numerical experiments. The results show that there is an optimum feasible position for each ocean color channel. The bandwidth of the 0.763-μm channel should be less than 10 nm for good sensitivity to the cloud top height and geometric thickness of the cloud layer; a 40-nm bandwidth is suitable for the 1.38-μm channel to have the strongest contrast between cloudy and clear radiance with a sufficient radiant energy; and a 3.7-μm channel is better than a 3.95-μm channel for estimation of the sea surface temperature (SST) and determination of the cloud particle size when the bandwidth of the channel is 0.33 μm. A three-wavelength combination of 6.7, 7.3, and 7.5 rrm is an optimized choice for water vapor profiling. The combination of 8.6, 10.8, and 12.0 μm is suitable for cloud microphysics and SST retrievals with the split-window technique.