Calibration plan for the sea and land surface temperature radiometer

The Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) to be flown on ESA's Sentinel-3 mission is a multichannel scanning radiometer that will continue the 21-year datasets of the Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) series. As its name implies, measurements from SLSTR will be used to retrieve global sea surface temperatures to an uncertainty of <0.3K traced to international standards. To achieve these low uncertainties requires an end to end instrument calibration strategy that includes pre-launch calibration at subsystem and instrument level, on-board calibration systems and sustained post launch activities. The authors describe the preparations for the pre-launch calibration activities including the spectral response, instrument level alignment tests, solar and infrared radiometric calibration. A purpose built calibration rig has been designed and built at RAL space that will accommodate the SLSTR instrument, infrared calibration sources and alignment equipment. The calibration rig has been commissioned and results of these tests will be presented. Finally the authors will present the planning for the on-orbit monitoring and calibration activities to ensure that calibration is maintained. These activities include vicarious calibration techniques that have been developed through previous missions, and the deployment of ship-borne radiometers.