Thermal sounding of the atmospheric boundary layer in the oxygen absorption band center at 60 GHz

A sensitive radiometer that allows the measurement of the radiobrightness temperature with an error not greater than δT _b≈0.06 K is described. It provides the facility for the remote temperature sensing of the boundary layer. According to numerical experiments, the accuracy of the temperature profile recovery is about 0.2 K in the case of a simple profile, and about 0.5 K in the case of a profile with an inversion. Field experiments were conducted with the radiometer in elevation angle scanning mode. In situ temperature measurements were carried out simultaneously with the remote sensing