3.9 Micron Imagery


The 3.9 micrometer near infrared (IR) imagery is useful for a variety of applications.  It can be used at night to detect low level clouds and fog.  In the daylight it is used to discern cloud phase (liquid or ice).  Additionally, the characteristics of the channel allow it to be used to detect fires.

A word of caution about this channel.  You will notice that it looks a lot different at nighttime than at daytime.  This is because the sensitivity of this channel is in the "near" IR, that is, it is very close to the visible spectrum, and has some visible characteristics.  One of these is that when the sun illuminates the scene, solar IR photons are reflected (just like visible light) and detected, while at night, only earth radiated IR photons are sensed.  Interesting effects can be seen during this transition when the terminator goes across the image during sunrise or sunset. - Dan Birkenheuer



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