Title :
A study of the Microwave Sounding Unit on the NOAA-12 satellite
Author_Institution :
Satellite Res. Lab., NOAA, Washington, DC, USA
Abstract :
The Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) on the NOAA series of polar-orbiting satellites is a four-channel Dicke radiometer with the channels centered at 50.30, 53.74, 54.96, and 57.95 GHz. Onboard blackbody and the cold space calibrations are performed for each scan line. The MSU data are used for atmospheric temperature retrieval and climatological studies. In this study, the author examined the MSU data from NOAA-12, which was launched on May 14, 1991. Variations in the blackbody and space counts, temperature changes in the blackbody and Dicke loads during an orbit, and the effect of gain shift on the retrieved temperatures were investigated. The pre-launch calibration data were re-analyzed to provide a new set of nonlinearity coefficients, which can reduce the antenna brightness temperature by 0.6 K
Keywords :
atmospheric measuring apparatus; atmospheric techniques; atmospheric temperature; meteorological instruments; millimetre wave measurement; radiometers; radiometry; remote sensing; 50 to 58 GHz; EHF; MSU; Microwave Sounding Unit; NOAA; NOAA MSU; NOAA-12; antenna brightness temperature; atmosphere meteorology temperature; calibration; four-channel Dicke radiometer; gain shift; measurement technique; millimeter radiometry; mm wave millimetric; nonlinear effect; nonlinearity coefficients; remote sensing; retrieval; satellite; Calibration; Computer errors; Databases; Information retrieval; Laboratories; Microwave radiometry; Satellite antennas; Satellite broadcasting; Temperature; Testing;
Conference_Titel :
Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 1994. IGARSS '94. Surface and Atmospheric Remote Sensing: Technologies, Data Analysis and Interpretation., International
Conference_Location :
Pasadena, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-1497-2
DOI :
10.1109/IGARSS.1994.399490
