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High-resolution imaging of rain systems with the advanced microwave precipitation radiometerAn advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR) has been developed and flown in the NASA ER-2-high-altitude aircraft for imaging various atmospheric and surface processes, primarily the internal structure of rain clouds. The AMPR is a scanning four-frequency total power microwave radiometer that is externally calibrated with high-emissivity warm and cold loads. Separate antenna systems allow the sampling of the 10.7- and 19.35-GHz channels at the same spatial resolution, while the 37.1- and 85.5-GHz channels utilize the same multifrequency feedhorn as the 19.35-GHz channel. Spatial resolutions from an aircraft altitude of 20-km range from 0.6 km at 85.5 GHz to 2.8 km at 19.35 and 10.7 GHz. All channels are sampled every 0.6 km in both along-track and cross-track directions, leading to a contiguous sampling pattern of the 85.5-GHz 3-dB beamwidth footprints, 2.3X oversampling of the 37.1-GHz data, and 4.4X oversampling of the 19.35- and 10.7-GHz data. Radiometer temperature sensitivities range from 0.2 to 0.5 C. Details of the system are described, including two different calibration systems and their effect on the data collected. Examples of oceanic rain systems are presented from Florida and the tropical west Pacific that illustrate the wide variety of cloud water, rainwater, and precipitation-size ice combinations that are observable from aircraft altitudes.
Document ID
19950039056
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Spencer, Roy W.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Hood, Robbie E.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Lafontaine, Frank J.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Smith, Eric A.
(Florida State Univ. Tallahassee, FL, United States)
Platt, Robert
(Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA United States)
Galliano, Joe
(Galliano and Associates, Rosswell, GA United States)
Griffin, Vanessa L.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Lobl, Elena
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
August 1, 1994
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
Volume: 11
Issue: 4, pt
ISSN: 0739-0572
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Accession Number
95A70655
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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