ABSTRACT
The calibration and characterization of spaceborne hyperspectral sensors is a critical prerequisite for creating high-quality scientific data and for operational usages. On-ground calibration methods encompass a vast array of careful instrument characterizations in a laboratory and occasionally outdoors prior to launch. This chapter begins with description of the rationale of on-ground calibration and characterization. It then describes eleven types of calibrations and characterizations from radiometric, spectral, geometric to stray light. It analyses the spectral and spatial error sources of a hyperspectral instrument from such sources as thermal drifts, radiation, contamination, and micrometeorite damage. It examines the requirements of spectral calibration, including spectral linearity, and temperature sensitivity, by simulating spectral calibration and providing an example of scene-based spectral calibration. It discusses the considerations of ground-based absolute calibration and describes a prelaunch calibration subsystem of a well-known hyperspectral instrument. Finally, it describes principle of absolute and relative radiometric calibration.
