This NOI is for a proposal from the University of Arizona's College of Optical Sciences for verifying the radiometric accuracy of EOS sensors, specifically the ASTER sensor in this case. A reliable radiometric calibration is essential to ensure and maintain the accuracy of the radiometric measurements among sensors on different satellites over the long time span of EOS. Vicarious calibrations (VCs) carried out at regular intervals provide one means to understanding the radiometric quality of the sensor. The Remote Sensing Group in the College of Optical Sciences maintains a high accuracy radiometric calibration capability both in the laboratory and in the field. This capability has been used in support of the on-ground radiometric calibrations for ASTER and has also been used in support of the MODIS and MISR on-ground calibrations. We will propose to carry out several VC field campaigns per year in support of ASTER with the goal to cross-compare with other moderate to high resolution imaging sensors such as Landsats-5 and 7 TM and ETM+, Ikonos, Quickbird, and other sensors as they become available. The key purpose to this work will be to ensure that there is a radiometrically consistent data set that can be used to avoid both spatial and temporal data gaps in moderate resolution data sets.
