Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer
Encyclopedia
The scanning multichannel microwave radiometer (SMMR) [pronounced simmer] was a five-frequency microwave radiometer
flown on the Seasat
and Nimbus 7
satellites. Both were launched in 1978, with the Seasat mission lasting less than six months until failure of the primary bus
. The Nimbus 7 SMMR lasted from 25 October 1978 until 20 August 1987. It measured dual-polarized microwave radiances, at 6.63, 10.69, 18.0, 21.0, and 37.0 GHz, from the Earth's atmosphere and surface. Its primary legacy has been the creation of areal sea-ice climatologies for the Arctic and Antarctic.
The final few months of operation was considerably fortuitous as it allowed the calibration of the radiometers and their products with the first results from the SSMI
.
Microwave radiometer
A microwave radiometer is a radiometer that measures energy emitted at sub-millimetre-to-centimetre wavelengths known as microwaves. Their primary application has been onboard spacecraft measuring atmospheric and terrestrial radiation, and they are mostly used for meteorological or oceanographic...
flown on the Seasat
Seasat
SEASAT was the first Earth-orbiting satellite designed for remote sensing of the Earth's oceans and had on board the first spaceborne synthetic aperture radar . The mission was designed to demonstrate the feasibility of global satellite monitoring of oceanographic phenomena and to help determine...
and Nimbus 7
Nimbus program
The Nimbus satellites were second-generation U.S. robotic spacecraft used for meteorological research and development. The spacecraft were designed to serve as stabilized, Earth-oriented platforms for the testing of advanced systems to sense and collect atmospheric science data...
satellites. Both were launched in 1978, with the Seasat mission lasting less than six months until failure of the primary bus
Electrical bus
Electric bus is a bus powered by electric energy. "Electric bus" can also refer to:* Bus , used for connecting components of a computer or communication between computers* Busbars, thick conductors acting as nodes in electrical substations...
. The Nimbus 7 SMMR lasted from 25 October 1978 until 20 August 1987. It measured dual-polarized microwave radiances, at 6.63, 10.69, 18.0, 21.0, and 37.0 GHz, from the Earth's atmosphere and surface. Its primary legacy has been the creation of areal sea-ice climatologies for the Arctic and Antarctic.
The final few months of operation was considerably fortuitous as it allowed the calibration of the radiometers and their products with the first results from the SSMI
Special Sensor Microwave/Imager
The special sensor microwave/imager is a seven-channel, four-frequency, linearly polarized passive microwave radiometer system. It is flown on board the United States Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Block 5D-2 satellites. The instrument measures surface/atmospheric microwave...
.
External links
- http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0071.html
- http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov:2031/SENSOR_DOCS/smmr.html
- http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?isnumber=25768&arnumber=1145458&type=ref