The Black Array of Broadband Absolute Radiometers Earth Radiation Imager: Science Requirements, Instrument Design, and Concept of Operations

Published

July 1, 2025

Author(s)

John Lehman, Michelle Stephens, Nathan Tomlin, Christopher Yung

Abstract

The Black Array of Broadband Absolute Radiometers Earth Radiation Imager (BABAR-ERI) is a small, adaptable nadir-pointed pushbroom imager to measure Earth-leaving broadband radiance from 0.3 µm to 100 µm with higher information content than currently measured through reduced radiometric uncertainty and cloud-resolving spatial resolution. The three-instrument BABAR-ERI suite fits a 12U CubeSat form factor and contains co-registered science telescope channels for measuring shortwave (0.3 µm to 4.5 µm) and total radiance (0.3 µm to 100 µm), dual-channel on-board radiance stability monitors, and a visible-wavelength camera. Novel, 1  32 element, electrical-substitution radiometer pixels image the shortwave and total radiance in 1 km  1 km ground footprints; longwave radiance (4.5 µm to 100 µm) is derived from subtraction of the shortwave and total radiance. The dual-channel onboard stability monitors are radiance standard detectors and their measurements, acquired concurrently with the science telescopes and at much different duty cycles for the dual-channels, will be used to track and correct degradation of the science channels. The single-channel, mid-visible camera facilitates geolocation pointing knowledge and provides scene context information and sub-pixel variability to facilitate measurement stability studies and enable process-level science studies at high spatial resolution. The detectors for the science channels and stability monitors are absolute, ambient-temperature, micro-fabricated, electrical-substitution radiometers with near-perfect optical absorptance across the measurement range from vertically aligned carbon nanotubes. The BABAR-ERI science channels will be characterized over the full measurement range and for variable Earth scene and deep space temperatures during extensive ground calibrations.

Citation

Advances in Atmospheric Sciences

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-025-5049-6

Local Download

Keywords

CubeSat, electrical-substitution radiometer, 1km footprint, broadband radiance

Citation

Lehman, J. , Stephens, M. , Tomlin, N. and Yung, C. (2025), The Black Array of Broadband Absolute Radiometers Earth Radiation Imager: Science Requirements, Instrument Design, and Concept of Operations, Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, [online], https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-025-5049-6, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=959400 (Accessed October 20, 2025)