The microwave sounding unit (MSU) was the predecessor to the

Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit The advanced microwave sounding unit (AMSU) is a multi-channel microwave radiometer installed on meteorological satellites. The instrument examines several bands of microwave radiation from the atmosphere to perform atmospheric sounding of tempe ...

(AMSU). The MSU was first launched aboard the TIROS-N satellite in late 1978 and provided global coverage (from Pole to Pole). It carries a 4-channel

microwave radiometer A microwave radiometer (MWR) is a radiometer that measures energy emitted at one millimeter-to-metre wavelengths (frequencies of 0.3–300 GHz) known as microwaves. Microwave radiometers are very sensitive receivers designed to measure thermally ...

, operating between 50 and 60

GHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or Cycle per second, cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in ter ...

. Spatial resolution on the ground was 2.5 deg in longitude and latitude (about 250 km circle). There were 9 different MSUs launched; the most recent one on NOAA-14. They provided measurements of the

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...

of the

troposphere The troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere of Earth. It contains 80% of the total mass of the Atmosphere, planetary atmosphere and 99% of the total mass of water vapor and aerosols, and is where most weather phenomena occur. From the ...

and lower

stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second-lowest layer of the atmosphere of Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is composed of stratified temperature zones, with the warmer layers of air located higher ...

until 1998, when the first AMSU was deployed. AMSU provides many more channels and finer resolution (about 50 km). Table 1 lists some characteristics of the MSU. The radiometer's antenna scans underneath the satellite through

nadir The nadir is the direction pointing directly ''below'' a particular location; that is, it is one of two vertical directions at a specified location, orthogonal to a horizontal flat surface. The direction opposite of the nadir is the zenith. Et ...

, and its polarization vector rotates with the scan angle. In the table, "vertical polarization near nadir" means that the E-vector is parallel to the scan direction at nadir, and "horizontal polarization" means the orthogonal direction. Table 1 Radiometric characteristics of the Microwave Sounding Unit

Applications

The MSU was used by

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploratio ...

for meteorological analyses in combination with two infrared instruments, and sometimes alone, for post-analysis of weather events and other atmospheric phenomena such as waves. MSU and AMSU together provide a long data record and have been used for tracking atmospheric temperature trends (see: Microwave Sounding Unit temperature measurements).

References

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Applications

References

See also