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

fYear

2012

fDate

14-19 Oct. 2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

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;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Oceans, 2012

Conference_Location

Hampton Roads, VA

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-0829-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/OCEANS.2012.6404812

Filename

6404812