Articles | Volume 17, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-219-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-219-2024
Research article
 | 
15 Jan 2024
Research article |  | 15 Jan 2024

Measurement uncertainties of scanning microwave radiometers and their influence on temperature profiling

Tobias Böck, Bernhard Pospichal, and Ulrich Löhnert

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Cited articles

Caumont, O., Cimini, D., Löhnert, U., Alados-Arboledas, L., Bleisch, R., Buffa, F., Ferrario, M. E., Haefele, A., Huet, T., Madonna, F., and Pace, G.: Assimilation of humidity and temperature observations retrieved from ground-based microwave radiometers into a convective-scale NWP model, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 142, 2692–2704, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2860, 2016. 
Cimini, D., Campos, E., Ware, R., Albers, S., Giuliani, G., Oreamuno, J., Joe, P., Koch, S. E., Cober, S., and Westwater, E.: Thermodynamic Atmospheric Profiling During the 2010 Winter Olympics Using Ground-Based Microwave Radiometry, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote., 49, 4959–4969, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2011.2154337, 2011. 
Crewell, S. and Löhnert, U.: Accuracy of cloud liquid water path from ground-based microwave radiometry 2. Sensor accuracy and synergy, Radio Science, 38, 8042, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002RS002634, 2003. 
Crewell, S. and Löhnert, U.: Accuracy of Boundary Layer Temperature Profiles Retrieved With Multifrequency Multiangle Microwave Radiometry, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 45, 2195–2201, https://doi.org/10.1109/tgrs.2006.888434, 2007. 
De Angelis, F., Cimini, D., Hocking, J., Martinet, P., and Kneifel, S.: RTTOV-gb – adapting the fast radiative transfer model RTTOV for the assimilation of ground-based microwave radiometer observations, Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 2721–2739, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2721-2016, 2016. 
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Short summary
In this study, measurement uncertainties from microwave radiometers and their impact on temperature profiling are analyzed. These measurement uncertainties include horizontal inhomogeneities of the atmosphere, pointing errors or tilts of the instrument, physical obstacles which are in the line of sight of the radiometer, and radio frequency interferences. Impacts on temperature profiles from these uncertainties are usually small in real-life scenarios and when obstacles are far enough away.
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