| Acronym | Meaning |
| HIRS | High-resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder |
| AOS | (Department Of) Atmospheric And Oceanic Sciences |
| C | Centigrade |
| ER-2 | Earth Resources (plane) |
| HRIR | High Resolution Infrared Radiometer |
| GARS | GOES Archive And Retrieval System |
| NASA | National Aeronautics And Space Administration |
| NASDA | National Space Development Agency (Japan) |
| CERES | Clouds And The Earth's Radiant Energy System (EOS) |
| NPOESS | National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System |