Humidity Sounder for Brazil
Encyclopedia
The Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB) was an instrument launched on NASA
's Earth Observing System
satellite Aqua
launched in May 2002. It was a four-channel passive microwave radiometer, with one channel at 150 GHz and three channels at 183 GHz. It was very similar in design to the AMSU-B
instrument, except it lacked the 89 GHz surface sounding channel. It was intended to study profiles of atmospheric water vapor
and provide improved input data to the cloud-clearing algorithms in the Unified AIRS Retrieval Suite, but the scan mirror motor failed on February 5, 2003. It worked with the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
and AMSU-A
to form the AIRS Sounding Suite.
HSB was manufactured by Matra Marconi Space
, Limited (MMS), in the United Kingdom under a contract with the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, INPE.
Table 1: Radiometric characteristics of the HSB
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's Earth Observing System
Earth Observing System
The Earth Observing System is a program of NASA comprising a series of artificial satellite missions and scientific instruments in Earth orbit designed for long-term global observations of the land surface, biosphere, atmosphere, and oceans of the Earth. The satellite component of the program was...
satellite Aqua
Aqua (satellite)
Aqua is a multi-national NASA scientific research satellite in orbit around the Earth, studying the precipitation, evaporation, and cycling of water. It is the second major component of the Earth Observing System preceded by Terra and followed by Aura .The name "Aqua" comes from the Latin word...
launched in May 2002. It was a four-channel passive microwave radiometer, with one channel at 150 GHz and three channels at 183 GHz. It was very similar in design to the AMSU-B
Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit
The Advanced microwave sounding unit is a multi-channel microwave radiometer installed on meteorological satellites. The instrument examines several bands of microwave radiation from the atmosphere to perform atmospheric sounding of temperature and moisture levels.-Products:Level-1 radiance data...
instrument, except it lacked the 89 GHz surface sounding channel. It was intended to study profiles of atmospheric water vapor
Water vapor
Water vapor or water vapour , also aqueous vapor, is the gas phase of water. It is one state of water within the hydrosphere. Water vapor can be produced from the evaporation or boiling of liquid water or from the sublimation of ice. Under typical atmospheric conditions, water vapor is continuously...
and provide improved input data to the cloud-clearing algorithms in the Unified AIRS Retrieval Suite, but the scan mirror motor failed on February 5, 2003. It worked with the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder is one of six instruments flying on board NASA’s Aqua satellite, launched on May 4, 2002. The instrument is designed to support climate research and improve weather forecasting....
and AMSU-A
Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit
The Advanced microwave sounding unit is a multi-channel microwave radiometer installed on meteorological satellites. The instrument examines several bands of microwave radiation from the atmosphere to perform atmospheric sounding of temperature and moisture levels.-Products:Level-1 radiance data...
to form the AIRS Sounding Suite.
HSB was manufactured by Matra Marconi Space
Matra Marconi Space
Matra Marconi Space was a Franco-British aerospace company.-History:Matra Marconi Space was established in 1990 as a joint venture between the space and telecommunication divisions of the Lagardère Group and the GEC group .The merged company was announced in December 1989 and was owned 51% by...
, Limited (MMS), in the United Kingdom under a contract with the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, INPE.
Instrument Characteristics
- Heritage: AMSU-B
- Swath: 1650 km
- Spatial resolution: 13.5 km horizontal at nadirNadirThe nadir is the direction pointing directly below a particular location; that is, it is one of two vertical directions at a specified location, orthogonal to a horizontal flat surface there. Since the concept of being below is itself somewhat vague, scientists define the nadir in more rigorous...
- Mass: 51 kg
- Duty cycle: 100%
- Power: 56 W
- Data rate: 4.2 kbit/s
- Field of View: ± 49.5 degrees cross-track
- Instrument Instantaneous Field of View: 1.1 degrees circular
Table 1: Radiometric characteristics of the HSB
| Channel Number | AMSU-B Channel Number |
Frequency (GHz) |
Bandwidth (at nadir) |
Instrument Sensitivity NEDT (K) |
| 1 | 16 | 89.9 ± 0.9 | DELETED | DELETED |
| 2 | 17 | 150 ± 0.9 | 4000 | 0.68 |
| 3 | 18 | 183.31 ± 1.00 | 2x500 | 0.57 |
| 4 | 19 | 183.31 ± 3.00 | 2x1000 | 0.39 |
| 5 | 20 | 183.31 ± 7.00 | 2x2000 | 0.30 |