Comparative performance analyses of passive microwave systems for tropospheric sounding of temperature and water vapor profiles

William J. Blackwell; David H. Staelin

doi:10.1117/12.254130

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18 October 1996 Comparative performance analyses of passive microwave systems for tropospheric sounding of temperature and water vapor profiles

William J. Blackwell, David H. Staelin

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Proceedings Volume 2812, GOES-8 and Beyond; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.254130
Event: SPIE's 1996 International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1996, Denver, CO, United States

Abstract

Advances in receiver technology permit the use of microwave spectrometers at 100-500 GHz in combination with economically affordable antennas on geostationary meteorological satellites. Microwave systems operating at 118 GHz, 183 GHz, and 425 GHz have been compared. With an antenna of just over 2 meters in diameter, a system operating at 380 GHz and 425 GHz is capable of sounding temperature and water vapor profiles with 20-km horizontal resolution, and a system operating at 118 GHz and 183 GHz is capable of 70-km resolution. Analyses show that integration of such microwave spectrometers with a high performance infrared sounder would provide a nearly all-weather continuous-observation geostationary sounding system with accuracies approaching those of low-earth-orbit observatories.

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William J. Blackwell and David H. Staelin "Comparative performance analyses of passive microwave systems for tropospheric sounding of temperature and water vapor profiles", Proc. SPIE 2812, GOES-8 and Beyond, (18 October 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.254130

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