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Detector noise and graphical reading. Noise-equivalent power specifies the incident optical power producing signal-to-noise ratio one, with the electrical bandwidth and averaging convention stated. A spectral NEP has units $\mathrm{W}\mathrm{H}{\mathrm{z}}^{-1/2}$; a band-integrated NEP has units W. Specific detectivity normalizes the latter by detector area and noise bandwidth:Its usual unit, the Jones, is $\mathrm{cm}\mathrm{H}{\mathrm{z}}^{1/2}{\mathrm{W}}^{-1}$. Removing the expected square-root area and bandwidth dependence helps compare different detector sizes and readout bandwidths, provided noise conditions and spectral response are comparable. This does not normalize away every background, temperature or implementation difference.

Reading the native embedded voltage plot gives approximate means $V_C\simeq 0.331\mathrm{V}$, $V_S\simeq 0.406\mathrm{V}$ and $V_H\simeq 0.493\mathrm{V}$. The one-second root mean square scatter is about $0.006\mathrm{V}$; the plotted peak-to-peak excursions are larger and must not be substituted for an root mean square noise. Independent graphical digitization of the blue trace gives means near $0.331,0.406,0.493$ V and scatters about $0.006$–$0.007$ V, consistent with this estimate. These are readings from a drawing, not exact original data.

The supplied Planck approximation gives $B_C\simeq 0.08590$ and $B_H\simeq 0.12836$ in $\mathrm{W}{\mathrm{m}}^{-2}\mathrm{s}{\mathrm{r}}^{-1}(\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}{)}^{-1}$. Thus the noise-equivalent radiance of one one-second sample isHere the calibrating means are used to determine the response slope; their own uncertainty is included explicitly in the final scene estimate below.

Optical throughput and detectivity. A paraxial $f/F$ cone has half-angle approximately $1/(2F)$ and projected solid angle approximately $\pi /(4F^2)$. With $F=2$ and $A_d=10^{-6}{\mathrm{m}}^2$,Using the exact cone angle $\tan \theta =1/(2F)$ gives projected etendue $A_d\pi {\sin }^2\theta =1.85\times 10^{-7}{\mathrm{m}}^2\mathrm{sr}$, within the intended approximation. The radiance noise corresponds to detector power noiseThe wavenumber bandwidth is $1\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$ and must match the radiance's per-wavenumber unit; it is not an electrical noise bandwidth. For the common order-of-magnitude assignment $\Delta f\sim 1\mathrm{Hz}$ to a one-second sample,Area in the last expression is $1\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{m}}^2=0.01\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^2$. For a specified one-second boxcar with white noise, the one-sided equivalent noise bandwidth is instead $1/(2t)=0.5\mathrm{Hz}$. That convention gives spectral NEP $\simeq 2.5\times 10^{-10}\mathrm{W}\mathrm{H}{\mathrm{z}}^{-1/2}$ and $D_{\ast }\simeq 3.9\times 10^8$ Jones. The source does not specify the electrical filter, so the two conventions should not be mixed or assigned spurious precision.

Two-point retrieval and its uncertainty. Assume linear, stable response for the three views. The radiometer two-point calibration isWith target radiances treated as known, differentiating givesNotice $b<0$ for an intermediate scene: raising the hot voltage while keeping the scene voltage fixed reduces the inferred scene radiance. Numerically $a\simeq 0.2621$, $b\simeq -0.1214$ in radiance units per volt.

The scene interpolation fraction is about $0.463$, giving $B_S\simeq 0.1056$ andFor independent white noise in each view, each hundred-sample mean has standard error ${\sigma }_{\bar{V}}=0.006/10=0.0006\mathrm{V}$. The radiance error isUsing the given temperature sensitivity,A scatter estimate closer to $0.007$ V changes this to roughly $0.14$ K. These are random standard errors under the averaging assumptions. Target-temperature/emissivity uncertainty, response drift and atmospheric or surface-emissivity corrections are separate: the retrieved quantity is a brightness temperature, not automatically the true sea-surface temperature.

The etendue is the area–solid-angle acceptance of a ray bundle, more generally $\mathcal{G}=n_{mopt}^2\int \cos \theta dAd\Omega$. In an ideal lossless optical system it is conserved. Increasing pupil area increases accepted power only together with the appropriate field and detector cone; passive optics cannot arbitrarily increase radiance. For a small nadir pixel here, $A\Omega$ denotes entrance-pupil area times the solid angle of its surface footprint.

Choose $1.00$–$1.03\mu \mathrm{m}$ within the surface-sensitive window. A representative band-mean total radiance read from the original blue curve is ${\bar{L}}_{\lambda }\simeq 4\mu \mathrm{W}\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-2}\mathrm{s}{\mathrm{r}}^{-1}\mu {\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$, uncertain at roughly the tens-of-per-cent level. Its band integral isThe provided SNR formula depends on $L\Delta \nu$ only through this band integral. If $\nu$ is wavenumber, the selected band spans about $291\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$ and $L_{\nu }d\nu =L_{\lambda }|d\lambda |$; numerical radiance densities in the two coordinates must not be mixed. Convert the specific detectivity to SI: $D^{\ast }=5\times 10^9\mathrm{m}\mathrm{H}{\mathrm{z}}^{1/2}{\mathrm{W}}^{-1}$ and $\sqrt{a}=2\times 10^{-4}\mathrm{m}$. Using the footprint dwell time from part (c),A square $200\mathrm{m}$ footprint at altitude $259\mathrm{km}$ subtends $\Omega \simeq (200/259000{)}^2=5.96\times 10^{-7}\mathrm{sr}$. Thus the collecting area and circular aperture diameter areThe Rayleigh criterion independently requires only $D\gtrsim 1.22\lambda /(200/h)\simeq 1.6\mathrm{mm}$ at $1.015\mu \mathrm{m}$, so the noise requirement dominates diffraction. The $200\mu \mathrm{m}$ detector size corresponds to focal length about $0.259\mathrm{m}$ for this pixel field. This assumes one detector footprint per stated feature size; stricter spatial sampling would need smaller footprints and a revised photon budget.

The estimate assumes a clear, non-scattering atmosphere as in the graph, a night-side or otherwise isolated thermal signal, negligible extra stray-light and read-noise penalties beyond the supplied detectivity, and transmission $0.7$ for the instrument alone. Atmospheric attenuation is already included in the plotted incoming radiance. The selected band has little atmospheric-only signal, but actual hot-spot detection concerns contrast relative to the background: SNR $50$ on total radiance is not a guarantee for an arbitrarily small temperature anomaly. An illustrative radiance range $3$–$5$ in the plotted units would give diameters about $0.20$–$0.15\mathrm{m}$.