JPSS-1 ATMS Microwave Brightness Temperature Measurements

22-channel microwave radiometer data captures upwelling radiances across six frequency bands from 23 to 183 GHz. The Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) instrument on the NOAA-20 satellite provides brightness temperature arrays with 135 along-track rows and 96 cross-track columns per channel. This Level 1B product is curated by NASA's GES DISC.

Use Cases

• Assimilating 22-channel brightness temperature data into numerical weather prediction models to improve atmospheric state initialization.
• Calibrating and validating other microwave sounders by comparing cross-track scanned radiance measurements from the 23, 31, 50-58, 89, 66, and 183 GHz bands.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of atmospheric moisture and temperature using the 135x96 pixel geolocated brightness temperature arrays.
• Studying instrument performance and scan synchronization by examining data collected with the 8/3-second scan period linked to the CrIS instrument.

Strengths

• Provides data from 22 distinct microwave channels for detailed atmospheric profiling.
• Offers high spatial granularity with brightness temperature arrays of 135 rows by 96 columns per channel.
• Features precise temporal synchronization, with a cross-track scan interval of 0.018 seconds and data products constructed on six-minute boundaries.

Limitations

• Spatial resolution varies significantly by channel, from 16 km to 75 km at nadir, limiting fine-scale analysis for some frequencies.
• The dataset's provenance details, including specific time range, update frequency, and data volume, are not provided in the input.
• Potential for data gaps or calibration artifacts inherent to satellite-based 'integrate-while-scan' collection methods is not documented.

Provenance

Source

NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC)

Collection Method

Collected by the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) instrument on the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1/NOAA-20) satellite using cross-track scanning.

Geography

Global coverage from the satellite's polar orbit at approximately 830 km altitude.