Calibration of the Defense Meteorological Space Program's (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) and construction of algorithms used to retrieve environmental parameters for the raw SSM/I measurements of brightness temperature, TA, are presented. Retrieval algorithm work includes validation and repair of the DMSP ocean surface wind speed algorithm which was developed at Environmental Research & Technology Inc. (ERT). The ERT algorithm is based on the "D-matrix" approach which seeks a linear relationship between measured SSM/I brightness temperatures and environmental parameters. D-matrix performance was validated by comparing algorithm derived wind speeds with near-simultaneous and co-located measurements made by off-shore ocean buoys maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A revised D-matrix algorithm satisfied the DMSP accuracy requirement of 2 m/s for wind speed predictions in the range of 3 m/s to 25 m/s. Explanation of the process by which the SSM/I is able to measure ocean-surface winds is given and is based on the theory of microwave radiative transfer. The explanation concludes with construction of a nonlinear, iterative algorithm which is able to retrieve ocean surface wind speed, integrated atmospheric water vapor and integrated cloud liquid water from the raw SSM/I data. Instrument calibration issues include brightness temperature accuracy and precision, antenna beamwidth measurements, antenna pattern correction, and geolocation of the SSM/I measurements.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-7899 |
| Date | 01 January 1990 |
| Creators | Goodberlet, Mark Alphonse |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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