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Preferred term

MWR  

Type

  • sosa:Sensor

Definition

  • The design and specifications of the SENTINEL-3 MWR have been based on those of the Envisat MWR. The instrument will measure brightness temperature at 23.8 GHz and 36.5 GHz covering a bandwidth of 200 MHz in each channel. The lower frequency channel is mostly sensitive to atmospheric water vapour and the higher frequency channel to cloud liquid water. Conceptually, it is a balanced Dicke radiometer for brightness temperatures below the Dicke load temperature. Balancing is achieved by means of a noise injection circuit. For brightness temperatures higher than the Dicke load temperature, a conventional Dicke mode is used. The radiometer employs a single offset reflector of 60 cm diameter and two separate feeds for the two channels. Calibration is achieved through a dedicated horn antenna pointing at the cold sky and the highly stable and precisely monitored internal Dicke load.

Entry terms

  • Micro-Wave Radiometer

Belongs to group

URI

https://vocab.met.no/mmd/Instrument/MWR

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