Abstract
Microwave radiation of the terrestrial origin is weak in intensity compared to thermal infrared radiation since microwave frequencies are away from the blackbody spectral maximum corresponding to the earth’s surface temperature. The smallness of hydrometeors relative to wavelength acts to reduce the efficiency of absorption and scattering at microwave frequencies. By contrast, the dielectric function of liquid water increases drastically with wavelength from the infrared to microwave ranges, implying that cloud and rain water actively interacts with microwave radiation. These different properties competing against one another constitute the unique utility of microwave remote sensing. Microwave radiometry conveys useful information for measuring precipitation as well as cloud LWP and column water vapor. The physical principles behind the microwave observations of atmospheric constituents are discussed in this chapter.
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Notes
- 1.
To be exact, gaseous emissions are included in the denominator of (9.18) in the definition of the normalized polarization difference.
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Masunaga, H. (2022). Microwave Radiometry. In: Satellite Measurements of Clouds and Precipitation. Springer Remote Sensing/Photogrammetry. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2243-5_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2243-5_9
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