Microwave Radiometer (MWR) oceanic integrated rain rate algorithm for Aquarius/SAC-D

Author

Farrar, Spencer ; Jones, Linwood ; Masuelli, Sergio ; Gallio, Juan-Cruz

Author_Institution

Central Florida Remote Sensing Lab. (CFRSL), Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

fYear

2010

fDate

1-4 March 2010

Firstpage

191

Lastpage

195

Abstract

The Microwave Radiometer (MWR) flying on the Aquarius/SAC-D mission is a Dicke radiometer operating at 23.8 and 36.5 GHz that is developed by the Argentina Space Agency CONAE. This instrument will complement Aquarius (NASA´s L-band radiometer/scatterometer) by providing simultaneous spatially collocated environmental measurements such as oceanic wind speed and rain rate. This paper describes the development of the pre-launch MWR rain rate algorithm using simulated MWR brightness temperatures from actual WindSat radiometer observations. WindSat provides high spatial resolution brightness temperatures that are spatially averaged to simulate the resolution of MWR. Also WindSat provides retrieved environmental parameters (EDR´s), which includes rain rate for developing the statistical regression algorithm. Examples of simulated MWR rain retrievals are presented.

Keywords

atmospheric measuring apparatus; atmospheric temperature; radiometry; rain; regression analysis; wind; Aquarius mission; Argentina Space Agency; CONAE; Dicke radiometer; L-band radiometer; L-band scatterometer; SAC-D mission; WindSat radiometer observations; environmental parameters; high spatial resolution brightness temperatures; microwave radiometer brightness temperatures; microwave radiometer oceanic integrated rain rate algorithm; oceanic wind speed; prelaunch microwave radiometer rain rate algorithm; statistical regression algorithm; Atmospheric modeling; Brightness temperature; Microwave radiometry; Ocean temperature; Rain; Sea measurements; Integrated Rain Rate; MWR; WindSat; radiometer; rain rate algorithm;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment (MicroRad), 2010 11th Specialist Meeting on

Conference_Location

Washington, DC

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-8120-0

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-8121-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MICRORAD.2010.5559562

Filename

5559562