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Calibration, Microwave Radiometers

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Encyclopedia of Remote Sensing

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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Definition

Antenna temperature (Ta). A weighted average of the brightness temperature incident on a radiometer from all directions, where the weighting is the antenna radiation pattern.

Receiver noise temperature (Trec). The equivalent brightness temperature that would produce the same signal strength as the noise generated by a radiometer’s electronics.

System noise temperature (Tsys). The sum of the antenna temperature entering a radiometer plus its receiver noise temperature.

Antenna radiation pattern. The sensitivity of an antenna to incoming radiation, usually expressed as a function of angle of arrival in polar coordinates and normalized so that the integral over all angles is unity.

Antenna mainbeam. The portion of an antenna radiation pattern localized near the direction of maximum sensitivity.

Antenna sidelobes. The antenna radiation pattern away from its mainbeam.

Overview

A microwave radiometer measures the power associated with a particular polarization component of a...

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Bibliography

  • Gasiewski, A. B., and Kunkee, D., 1993. Calibration and applications of polarization correlating radiometers. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory Techniques, 29(6), 1449.

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  • Hollinger, J. P., Pierce, J. L., and Poe, G. A., 1990. SSM/I instrument evaluation. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 28, 781–790.

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  • Njoku, E. G., Christensen, E. J., and Cofield, R. T., 1980. The SeaSat scanning multichannel microwave radiometer (SMMR): antenna pattern correction – development and implementation. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, OE-5, 125.

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  • Ruf, C. S., and Warnock, A. M., 2007. GEOSAT follow on water vapor radiometer: performance with a shared active/passive antenna. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 45, 970–977.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward Street, 48109, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Christopher Ruf

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  1. Christopher Ruf
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher Ruf .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

    Eni G. Njoku

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Ruf, C. (2014). Calibration, Microwave Radiometers. In: Njoku, E.G. (eds) Encyclopedia of Remote Sensing. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36699-9_11

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