BackForwardInstrument:  ERB 

Instrument details
Acronym ERB
Full name Earth Radiation Budget
Purpose Measurement of reflected and emitted terrestrial radiation fluxes in conjunction with solar radiation
Short description 22-channel radiometer. 10 channels in the range 0.2-5.0 μm to measure the incoming solar irradiance: 4 non-scanning wide-angle earth-viewing channels in the range 0.2-50 μm; and 8 scanning channels for multi-angle observation (4 in SW, 4 in LW)
Background Paving the way for the follow-on Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE)
Scanning Technique Solar irradiance channels (10): sun pointing. Non-scanning earth-viewing channels (4): swath 3300 km. Scanning earth-viewing channels (8): biaxial, swath depending from the incidence angle, maximum 3300 km
Resolution Scanning channels: 80 km s.s.p.
Coverage / Cycle Global, twice/day (long-wave) or once/day (short-wave)
Mass 18 kg Power 30 W Data Rate 0.5 kbps

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 1975 to 1994
Last update: 2014-09-24
Detailed characteristics
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Passive optical radiometer or spectrometer
  • Broadband Earth radiation radiometer
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 1
  • Absolutely calibrated broadband radiometers, and TSI and SSI radiometers
  • Broadband radiometer (for ERB)
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Downward short-wave irradiance at TOA
  • Upward long-wave irradiance at TOA
  • Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Downward short-wave irradiance at TOA*2 - very highNo specific limitation.TSI over the range from UV to FIR
Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA*1 - primaryNo specific limitation.SW, LW and Total (SW+LW) broadband channels with cross-track and bi-axial scanning for BRDF necessary for irradiance computation
Upward long-wave irradiance at TOA*1 - primaryNo specific limitation.SW, LW and Total (SW+LW) broadband channels