Five Years of Global Comparisons of AIRS and MODIS Infrared Radiances

AIRS and MODIS on the EOS Aqua spacecraft collect global observations of the Earth’s upwelling infrared radiance for numerous remote sensing and climate related applications. This paper presents comparisons of the AIRS and MODIS radiance observations, and illustrates the utility of using high spectral resolution observations to create a highly accurate assessment of broadband sensor calibration. Following Tobin et al. 2006, the high spectral resolution AIRS spectra are reduced to MODIS spectral resolution and the high spatial resolution MODIS data are reduced to AIRS spatial resolution for periodic global data collected over the mission life. Spatially uniform scenes are selected and the observed differences are characterized as a function of various parameters including time, scene temperature, sensor scan (view) angle, and solar zenith angle.