| Acronym | Meaning |
| JPL | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| FSL | Forecast Systems Laboratory (a NOAA ERL) |
| PIFTS | Planetary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer |
| NCDC | National Climatic Data Center |
| ER-2 | Earth Resources (plane) |
| AVHRR | Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer |
| HZ | Hertz |
| WSGC | Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium |
| AO&SS | Atmospheric |
| MSS | Multi-Spectral Scanner |