Exploded view of EarthCARE’s broadband radiometer

This image shows an exploded view of the EarthCARE broadband radiometer. The broadband radiometer provides accurate measurements of the reflected solar and emitted thermal radiation, co-located with the views from the cloud profiling radar and the atmospheric lidar.

It is used to derive the top-of-the-atmosphere fluxes over a wide wavelength band. The measurements made by the broadband radiometer are compared to the results from radiative transfer calculations that use aerosol–cloud–precipitation scenes retrieved from the three other instruments to calculate heating rates and top-of-atmosphere fluxes and/or radiances. This instrument is therefore key for EarthCARE’s assessment of radiative closure.

Read more about EarthCARE’s instrument package