Title :
An oceanic rain flag for Aquarius
Author :
Aslebagh, S. ; Hejazin, Y. ; Jones, W.L. ; May, C. ; Gonzalez, R.
Author_Institution :
EECS Dept., Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
Abstract :
This paper concerns the Microwave Radiometer (MWR) instrument on the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite, and it discusses the development of a signal processing algorithm to infer rain rate over oceans using the measured MWR microwave brightness temperatures. On-orbit rain measurements are presented and compared with corresponding independent “surface truth” rain rates from the US Naval Research Laboratory´s WindSat satellite radiometer. Further, we discuss how the MWR rain measurements can provide a “rain flag” that can be used to improve the sea surface salinity retrieval process, which is the main objective of Aquarius/SAC-D mission.
Keywords :
geophysical signal processing; microwave measurement; oceanographic equipment; oceanographic techniques; radiometers; radiometry; rain; remote sensing; Aquarius-SAC-D satellite; MWR instrument; MWR microwave brightness temperature measurements; Microwave Radiometer; US Naval Research Laboratory; WindSat satellite radiometer; oceanic rain flag; on orbit rain measurements; rain rate inference; sea surface salinity retrieval process; signal processing algorithm; surface truth rain rates; Microwave measurements; Microwave radiometry; Ocean temperature; Rain; Sea measurements; Temperature measurement; Aquarius; Microwave Radiometer; rain rate;
Conference_Titel :
Oceans, 2012
Conference_Location :
Hampton Roads, VA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-0829-8
DOI :
10.1109/OCEANS.2012.6404812
