Title :
Aquarius third stokes parameter measurements: Initial results
Author :
Utku, C. ; Le Vine, D.M. ; Abraham, S. ; Piepmeier, J.
Author_Institution :
GESTAR, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Abstract :
The Aquarius/SAC-D observatory was launched on June 10, 2011 and the Aquarius instrument has been collecting data continuously since late August. One of the unique features of the L-band radiometers comprising Aquarius is the presence of a polarimetric channel to measure the third Stokes parameter. The purpose is to provide a measure of Faraday rotation, which can be important for remote sensing at L-band, especially in the case of remote sensing of salinity which requires high precision. Initial results are presented here showing a reasonable agreement between retrieved and modeled Faraday rotation and also the “noisy” behavior at land-water boundaries and other mixed scenes predicted by theory.
Keywords :
Faraday effect; ocean chemistry; oceanographic techniques; polarimetry; radiometry; remote sensing; seawater; Aquarius/SAC-D observatory; Faraday rotation; L-band radiometer; land-water boundary; noisy behavior; polarimetric channel; remote sensing; salinity; third Stokes parameter measurement; NASA; Noise measurement; Radiometry; Faradayrotation; Microwave remote sensing; radiometry;
Conference_Titel :
Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment (MicroRad), 2012 12th Specialist Meeting on
Conference_Location :
Rome
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-1468-8
DOI :
10.1109/MicroRad.2012.6185229
