Airborne imaging of tropospheric emission at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths

Author

Gasiewski, A.J. ; Jackson, D.M. ; Wang, J.R. ; Racette, P.E. ; Zacharias, D.S.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA

Volume

2

fYear

1994

fDate

8-12 Aug. 1994

Firstpage

663

Abstract

In September 1993, the NASA Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (MIR) flew on board the NASA ER-2 high-altitude aircraft during CAMEX, and obtained the first wideband millimeter- and submillimeter-wavelength images of tropospheric emission. The MIR is a cross-track scanning radiometer with channels at 89, 150, 183±1, 3, 7, 220, and 325±1, 3, 8 GHz. This set provides upwelling brightness information at the two strong rotational water vapor lines at 183.310 and 325.153 GHz and three nearby atmospheric transmission windows. The wideband MIR images of convective raincells reveal unique cloud and precipitation mapping capabilities that are not available from lower frequency microwave channels. Comparisons between the 183 and 325 GHz spectra also reveal differential brightness temperature modes that are related to cloud water.

Keywords

atmospheric measuring apparatus; atmospheric radiation; clouds; meteorological instruments; millimetre wave imaging; millimetre wave measurement; radiometers; radiometry; rain; remote sensing; submillimetre wave imaging; submillimetre wave measurement; troposphere; 183 GHz; 89 to 325 GHz; EHF THF; ER-2 high-altitude aircraft; MIR; MIR image; Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer; NASA; airborne imaging; atmosphere meteorology; cloud; convective raincell; equipment radiometer; measurement technique; millimeter; millimetric; precipitation; radiometry; rain; sub mm wave; submillimeter; submillimetric; tropospheric emission; upwelling brightness; Aircraft; Brightness temperature; Clouds; Frequency; Instruments; Microwave radiometry; Millimeter wave technology; NASA; Sampling methods; Space technology; Submillimeter wave propagation; Submillimeter wave technology; Wideband;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 1994. IGARSS '94. Surface and Atmospheric Remote Sensing: Technologies, Data Analysis and Interpretation., International

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1497-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.1994.399222

Filename

399222