SI-Traceable Calibration of Satellite Microwave Radiometers
This event has passed. See the seminar recording here:
Dr. Edward Kim
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Monday October 15, 2018, 12:00-1:00 PM
ESSIC Conference Room 4102, 5825 University Research Ct, College Park, MD 20740
Abstract:
Satellite microwave radiometers have used blackbodies for calibration for decades. However, none were SI-traceable, so all microwave radiometer calibrations to date have been relative, adding uncertainty to long-term trend analyses, and leading to empirical adjustments when transitioning to new sensors. Even the extensive X-cal effort by the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) project is technically a cross-comparison rather than a cross-calibration.
Recently, an SI-traceable blackbody has been developed for microwave applications by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and designed with satellite microwave radiometer calibration in mind. The benefits of this will include more rigorously calibrated microwave sounder data for worldwide operational weather forecast agencies as well as more rigorous long-term data sets for climate studies.
The immediate efforts are focused on bringing SI-traceable brightness temperature calibration out of the laboratory by demonstrating the technique with real microwave radiometers. In parallel, investigations are underway to incorporate such blackbodies and techniques into the pre-launch calibrations for the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) satellite radiometer built by Northrup Grumman for the Joint Polar-orbiting Satellite System (JPSS), the Microwave Sounder (MWS) on ESA’s MetOp Second Generation, and other future radiometers.
We will summarize the status of these efforts and future activities.
Bio-sketch:
Dr. Edward Kim received S.B., S.M., and Engineer’s degree in electrical engineering from MIT, and a joint PhD with the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Michigan in 1998. Since 1999, he has been with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. He serves as NASA’s Instrument Scientist for the ATMS microwave sounder on the S-NPP and JPSS satellites. In his spare time, he also works on airborne and spaceborne microwave remote-sensing of snow, soil moisture, and frozen soil, including instrument development, field campaigns, and electromagnetic modeling.
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