A harmonised satellite series is one where all the calibrations of the sensors have been done consistently relative to reference datasets which can be traced back to known reference sources, in an ideal case back to SI. Each sensor is calibrated to the reference in a way that maintains the characteristics of that individual sensor such that the calibration radiances represent the unique nature of each sensor. This means that two sensors which have been harmonised may see different signals when looking at the same location at the same time where the difference is related to known differences in the responses of each sensor such as differences in the sensors spectral response functions etc.
FIDUCEO Vocabulary
High-resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder
Unlike harmonisation, homogenisation is where all satellites are forced to look the same such that when looking at the same location at the same time they would (in theory) give the same signal. In reality the signals from different sensors would be different and homogenisation is adding in corrective terms to each satellite to make them look the same. It is likely that these corrective terms will not be 100% effective and that the process of homogenisation will add in scene dependent errors to the uncertainty budget which may be difficult to assess.