NCAR Airborne Instrumentation Information NCAR Airborne Instrumentation Inventory 1. Radiation emitted from a water, land, or cloud surface passes through a filter which defines the spectral bandwidth. The pyrometer uses a reference target, which is highly reflective in the infrared portion of the spectrum, for comparison with radiation coming from the surface. Electronic circuits process the transducer's output difference between the reference target and the surface to measure the amount of emitted radiation.
Surface temperature is derived from the radiation measurement.
None 7.Comments Because the instrument is hard-mounted to the aircraft frame, the field of view will vary sharply with changes in aircraft attitude. No attempt is made to adjust the data for this phenomenon. Similarly the output of the instrument is affectdd by the optical depth within the field of view.