Radiometer programs in Europe

It is pointed out that in Europe great emphasis is placed on spaceborne applications of microwave remote sensing. A number of instruments will be launched in the 1990s by European investigator teams for a wide area of applications ranging from oceanography to meteorology and atmospheric physics. Two directions for future activities can be distinguished, one is toward operational sensors, and the second is toward the last not-yet-explored spectral region, the submillimeter range (300-3000 GHz). It is noted that these frequencies have a great potential in atmospheric physics because virtually all molecules of interest in photochemical processes in the middle atmosphere can be investigated by submillimeter radiometry.<>