Laboratory Calibration of the Optical Transient Detector and the Lightning Imaging Sensor

The authors present in detail the laboratory apparatus and techniques that were used to complete a full radiometric calibration of two space-based lightning detectors: the optical transient detector (OTD) and the lightning imaging sensor (LIS) that were developed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Marshall Space Flight Center. These instruments are nadir-staring imagers that are optimized to detect and locate lightning from low-Earth orbit during day and night conditions.