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Spaceborne Microwave Radiometry

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Springer Handbook of Atmospheric Measurements

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Abstract

Since several decades, microwave radiometers have been an essential component of the satellite observation system, enabling the retrieval of a multitude of parameters. Conical scanning imagers are mainly dedicated to deriving characteristics of the Earth's surface, e. g., soil moisture, sea-surface temperature, salinity, and sea ice. For this purpose, they make use of channels at low frequencies where the atmosphere is relatively transparent. By exploiting the differential absorption along pressure-broadened rotational lines, coarse resolution vertical profiles of water vapor and temperature can be derived from microwave sounders observing along the wings of atmospheric absorption lines. Furthermore, clouds and precipitation produce distinct spectral signatures in the microwave region, which can be best used over ocean surfaces that have a lower surface emissivity than land. Due to the rather long wavelengths, the spatial resolution of microwave satellite instruments is relatively poor, of the order of 10 km or more. By deploying microwave radiometers onboard aircrafts, much finer resolution can be achieved, which allows dedicated process studies. Microwave instruments flown on several polar orbiting satellites are an essential ingredient into today’s numerical weather prediction, and their measurements are assimilated directly as radiances by several meteorological services worldwide. With measurements having been available for more than three decades, microwave observations are starting to play an important role in monitoring and understanding the effects of climate change, such as the melting of the polar ice caps. With the upcoming new generation of satellites, the frequency range of the measurements is expanded into the submillimeter range to better capture ice clouds.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the reviewer for the helpful suggestions and Ana Radovan for producing Fig. 41.7a-d.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne, Köln, Germany

    Susanne Crewell

  2. LERMA, CNRS, Observatoire de Paris, Paris, France

    Catherine Prigent

  3. Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne, Köln, Germany

    Mario Mech

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  1. Susanne Crewell
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  2. Catherine Prigent
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  3. Mario Mech
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Correspondence to Susanne Crewell .

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  1. University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

    Thomas Foken

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Crewell, S., Prigent, C., Mech, M. (2021). Spaceborne Microwave Radiometry. In: Foken, T. (eds) Springer Handbook of Atmospheric Measurements. Springer Handbooks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52171-4_41

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