Assessments of F16 Special Sensor Microwave Imager and Sounder Data for NOAA Operational Applications

In F16 SSMIS there remain significant problems related to the SSMIS calibration which result in anomaly in SSMIS radiances. To remove anomalies in SSMIS radiances, the calibration algorithm includes the predictions of SSMIS reflector emissivity and temperature as well as the prediction of the warm load count anomaly. Using one year of SSMIS TDR data at 54.4, 55.5, 57.3 and 59.4 GHz, it is found that the mean difference of brightness temperature between the newly calibrated SSMIS measurements and radiative transfer model simulations is smaller than 0.5 K over most of global areas. The inter-satellite calibration of SSMIS and N16 AMSU-A is performed at 54.4, 55.5 and 57.3 GHz from simultaneous conical overpass observations where coincidental and collocated pixels are found between two sensors. It is found that the differences of brightness temperatures between the newly calibrated SSMIS measurements and AMSU-A measurements are mostly smaller than 1 K at 54.4, 55.5 and 57.3 GHz