Uncertainty Analysis of Remote Sensing Optical Sensor Data Guiding Principles to Achieve Metrological Consistency

Published

February 20, 2010

Author(s)

Raju V. Datla, Ruediger Kessel, Allan W. Smith, Raghu N. Kacker, D. B. Pollock

Abstract

Climate change monitoring requires long time series radiometric measurements using multiple optical sensors in multiple platforms covering the globe over decades. The problem of achieving traceability to SI units for these measurements is discussed. A major challenge is to determine the result of a measurement and its associated uncertainty using various calibration and validation processes. These processes are plagued by systematic (non-statistical) uncertainties that are not well understood. In particular, different but in principle equivalent SI traceable measurements may differ by more than would be expected from the uncertainties associated with the individual measurements. We propose a methodology based on the ISO Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM) for the analysis of uncertainties in such measurements together with a rigorous consistency checking. This allows the measurement result and its associated uncertainty to evolve as new knowledge is gained from additional experiments, and it promotes greater caution in drawing conclusions in view of the sparse measurements. We use the data on the ongoing total solar irradiance measurements from various instruments in orbit to illustrate the principles.

Citation

International Journal of Remote Sensing

Volume

31

Issue

4

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

metrological consistency, remote sensing, uncertainty evaluation

Citation

Datla, R. , Kessel, R. , Smith, A. , Kacker, R. and Pollock, D. (2010), Uncertainty Analysis of Remote Sensing Optical Sensor Data Guiding Principles to Achieve Metrological Consistency, International Journal of Remote Sensing, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=890001 (Accessed October 16, 2025)