The Far InfraRed Radiometer (FIRR) is meant to be a breadboard for the future Thin Ice Clouds in the Far InfraRed Experiment (TICFIRE) satellite mission sponsored by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) http://www.parabolicarc.com/2014/04/30/canadian-space-agency-supports-studies-microsatellites
The FIRR measures atmospheric radiation in 9 spectral bands ranging from 8 to 50 µm (Fig. 1), covering in particular the poorly explored far infrared region (λ>15 µm). The spectral signature of the atmosphere in the far infrared contains a significant amount of information about the water vapor content and clouds microphysical properties, especially in cold and dry environments. The FIRR exploits this sensitivity to study the water cycle in polar regions, with a special focus on the Arctic polar night. It is operated by Jean-Pierre Blanchet's group at UQAM (Montréal).
The FIRR detector is based on microbolometers. The linearity of the detector (Fig. 3) and its radiometric performances were evaluated in July 2015 in LR Tech facilities using a calibration setup based on well calibrated blackbodies (Fig. 3). The FIRR accuracy was determined to be 0.02 W m -2 sr -1 . http://www.atmos-meas-tech-discuss.net/amt-2015-379/ The FIRR was installed in October 2015 at the Eureka weather station (NU) where it takes automatic radiation measurements and can be controlled remotely. http://www.candac.ca/candacweb/opal LR Tech designed and provided the external enclosure of the instrument that protects it from wind and precipitation (Fig. 3).
Our thanks to Pr. Quentin Libois for writing this news article for LR Tech.
