| Description: | A heater controller failed on the Shortwave Spectrometer instrument (SWS). The heater
maintained the Silicon diode array spectrometer temperature at 27 +/-0.2 Celsius. Operatation
of the instrument is not dependent on the proper operation of the heater, therefore the
SWS was run during the 10 day period in which the problem was diagnosed and repaired.
However, up to a 4 percent error in radiance values can be expected in the wavelength range
from 900 nm to 981 nm.
The SWS data spans a wavelength range of 350 nm to 2150 nm with a typical error in
radiance value of 2 percent. From our analysis, the data with errors outside of the typical,
only spans a small portion of the total wavelength range. An instrument calibration with
the heater malfunctioning was performed on September 26, 2007, and a response function was
generated by the SWS mentor. If necessary, data users can contact the mentor to obtain
the response function which will improve but not eliminate completely the errors in
absolute spectral radiance values measured. |