A Multispectral Camera Suite for the Observation of Earth’s Outgoing Radiative Energy

Abstract

As part of the Earth Climate Observatory space mission concept for the direct observation from space of the Earth Energy Imbalance, we propose an advanced camera suite for the high-resolution observation of the Total Outgoing Radiation of the Earth. For the observation of the Reflected Solar Radiation, we propose the use of two multispectral cameras covering the range from 400 to 950 nm, with a nadir resolution of 1.7 km, combined with a high-resolution RGB camera, with a nadir resolution of 0.57 km. For the observation of the Outgoing Longwave Radiation, we propose the use of six microbolometer cameras, with each a spectral bandwidth of 1 μm in the range from 8 to 14 μm, with a nadir resolution of 2.2 km.

Absorption by a Layered Microbolometer Pixel’s Active Element

“…Microbolometer arrays-comprising micro-scale pixels whose resistance is highly sensitive to changing temperatures-have proven to be an effective class of sensors for real-time infrared imaging systems [4]. A significant potential for innovative applications exists, e.g., the use of microbolometer cameras has been recently proposed [5] for observation of outgoing longwave radiation at the Earth Climate Observatory space mission. In such sensors, the radiation absorbed by a thermal detector causes its pixel's temperature to rise, and that specific rise can be detected using a temperature-sensitive element.…”