Scene identification probabilities for evaluating radiation flux errors due to scene misidentification

Abstract

The scene identification probabilities (Pij) are fundamentally important in evaluations of the top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) radiation-flux errors due to the scene misidentification. In this paper, the scene identification error probabilities were empirically derived from data collected in 1985 by the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) scanning radiometer when the ERBE satellite and the NOAA-9 spacecraft were rotated so as to scan alongside during brief periods in January and August 1985. Radiation-flux error computations utilizing these probabilities were performed, using orbit specifications for the ERBE, the Cloud and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), and the SCARAB missions for a scene that was identified as partly cloudy over ocean. Typical values of the standard deviation of the random shortwave error were in the order of 1.5-5 W/sq m, but could reach values as high as 18.0 W/sq m as computed from NOAA-9.