The Tiros meteorological satellite contains detectors, storage, and telemetry for the measurement of infrared and reflected solar radiation from the earth and its atmosphere. Two separate detector designs are employed: a medium‐resolution scanning radiometer and a low‐resolution nonscanning radiometer. The spin of the satellite provides the scan line of the medium‐resolution radiometer, which is then advanced by the orbital motion of the satellite. Five channels using bolometer detectors and filters to limit the spectral response from 6 to 6.5 microns, 8 to 12 microns, 0.25 to 6 microns, 8 to 30 microns, and 0.55 to 0.75 micron are mounted in a single housing with choppers and pre‐amplifers. The spatial resolution is about 40 miles square when viewing the earth directly beneath the satellite. The parameters studied by these spectral regions are, in the same order: radiation emerging in the water vapor absorption band, day and night time cloud cover, albedo, thermal radiation, and visual maps for comparison with television pictures from the vidicon cameras also carried in the satellite. The low‐resolution nonscanning radiometer, utilizing a simple unchopped design, measures the blackbody temperature and the albedo of the earth. The field of view of the detector when viewing the earth directly beneath the satellite is a circle of 450‐mile diameter and covers part of the area of each picture frame of the wide‐field television camera. The detector consists of two thermistors, each mounted in the apex of a reflective Mylar cone which provides optical gain. One thermistor, coated black, responds to both reflected solar radiation and the thermal radiation from the earth; the second reflects solar radiation and responds only to the thermal radiation. The design, calibration, performance, and data reduction of both systems are discussed.

No abstract