An analytical expression for the variance of the radiance measured by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) emission spectrometers exists only in the limit of low noise. Outside this limit, the variance needs to be calculated numerically. In addition, a criterion for low noise is needed to identify properly calibrated radiances and optimize the instrument bandwidth. In this work, the variance and the magnitude of a noise-dependent spectral bias are calculated as a function of the system responsivity (r) and the noise level in its estimate (? r ). The criterion ? r /
