Keywords

Microwave radiometry, passive microwave remote sensing, calibration, geolocation

Abstract

This research concerns the CONAE Microwave Radiometer (MWR), on board the Aquarius/SAC-D platform. MWR's main purpose is to provide measurements that are simultaneous and spatially collocated with those of NASA's Aquarius radiometer/scatterometer. For this reason, knowledge of the MWR antenna beam footprint geolocation is crucial to mission success. In particular, this thesis addresses an on-orbit validation of the MWR antenna beam pointing, using calculated MWR instantaneous field of view (IFOV) centers, provided in the CONAE L-1B science data product. This procedure compares L-1B MWR IFOV centers at land/water crossings against high-resolution coastline maps. MWR IFOV locations versus time are computed from knowledge of the satellite's instantaneous location relative to an earth-centric coordinate system (provided by on-board GPS receivers), and a priori measurements of antenna gain patterns and mounting geometry. Previous conical scanning microwave radiometer missions (e.g., SSM/I) have utilized observation of rapid change in brightness temperatures (T_B) to estimate the location of land/water boundaries, and subsequently to determine the antenna beam-pointing accuracy. In this thesis, results of an algorithm to quantify the geolocation error of MWR beam center are presented, based upon two-dimensional convolution between each beam's gain pattern and land-water transition. The analysis procedures have been applied to on-orbit datasets that represent land-water boundaries bearing specific desirable criteria, which are also detailed herein. The goal of this research is to gain a better understanding of satellite radiometer beam-pointing error and thereby to improve the geolocation accuracy for MWR science data products.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2015

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Jones, W. Linwood

Degree

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (M.S.E.E.)

College

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Department

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Degree Program

Electrical Engineering

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0005591

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0005591

Language

English

Release Date

May 2015

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

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