Abstract:
Measurements on the Terra satellite by the Cloud and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and the Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR), between 2001 and 2015 over the polar regions, are analyzed in order to investigate the intercalibration differences between these instruments. Direct comparisons of colocated near-nadir radiances from CERES, MODIS, and MISR show relative agreement within 2.4% decade−1. By comparison with the CERES shortwave broadband, MODIS Collection 6 is getting brighter, by 1.0 ± 0.7% decade−1 in the red band and 1.4 ± 0.7% decade−1 in the near infrared. MISR's red and near-infrared bands, however, show darkening trends of −1.0 ± 0.6% decade−1 and −1.1 ± 0.6% decade−1, respectively. The CERES/MODIS or CERES/MISR visible and near IR radiance ratio is shown to have a significant negative correlation with precipitable water content over the Antarctic Plateau. The intercalibration results successfully correct the differential top-of-atmosphere trends in zonal albedos between CERES and MISR.
