Effect of Emission From the Moon on Remote Sensing of Sea Surface Salinity: An Example With the Aquarius Radiometer

Author

Dinnat, Emmanuel Philippe ; Abraham, Saji ; Vine, David M Le ; De Matthaeis, Paolo ; Jacob, Daniel

Author_Institution

Goddard Earth Sci. & Technol. Center, Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore, MD

Volume

6

Issue

2

fYear

2009

fDate

4/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

239

Lastpage

243

Abstract

This letter describes the effect of thermal emission from the Moon on remote sensing of sea surface salinity from space. In most cases, radiation from the Moon is negligible; however, at several times during the lunar cycle, it is possible for radiation to be reflected from the Earth´s surface into the main beam of the radiometer antennas. The signal in such cases can be important because of the high radiometric accuracy required to monitor salinity. Examples are presented using the Aquarius orbit and antennas for both smooth and rough ocean surfaces.

Keywords

Moon; antenna radiation patterns; microwave antennas; oceanography; radiometers; remote sensing; satellite antennas; Aquarius Radiometer; Aquarius antennas; Aquarius orbit; Moon; lunar cycle; radiation reflection; radiometer antennas; remote sensing; rough ocean surfaces; sea surface salinity; smooth surfaces; thermal emission effect; Microwave remote sensing; ocean salinity; radiation from Moon;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1545-598X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LGRS.2008.2008822

Filename

4770191