Development of the Crosstrack Infrared Sounder (CrIS) sensor design

The Crosstrack Infrared Sounder (CrIS) is one of the key sensors now under development for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) program, which is the follow-on to the current DMSP and POES meteorological satellite systems. CrIS is a interferometric sounding sensor which accurately measures upwelling earth radiances at very high spectral resolution, and uses this data to construct vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature, moisture and pressure. These profiles are also called Environmental Data Records, or EDRs. The purpose of this paper is to describe the top level trade studies that led to the selection of the overall CrIS sensor design. Most of these trade studies involved a tradeoff between system performance (EDR performance) and relative system cost. This paper discusses how EDR performance was determined for different trade study options, and reviews the key design and cost tradeoffs that led to the selection of the CrIS design.