Instrument uncertainties of network-suitable ground-based microwave radiometers: overview, quantification,  and mitigation strategies

Böck, Tobias; Löffler, Moritz; Marke, Tobias; Pospichal, Bernhard; Knist, Christine; Löhnert, Ulrich

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6251-2025

Articles | Volume 18, issue 21

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6251-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6251-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 21

Research article

|

06 Nov 2025

Research article |

| 06 Nov 2025

Instrument uncertainties of network-suitable ground-based microwave radiometers: overview, quantification, and mitigation strategies

Tobias Böck, Moritz Löffler, Tobias Marke, Bernhard Pospichal, Christine Knist, and Ulrich Löhnert

Data sets

Custom collection of model data from Jülich between 1 Jan and 31 Dec 2022 E. O'Connor https://doi.org/10.60656/700ccef44b024359

Custom collection of MWR brightness temperature data from Jülich between 1 Jan and 31 Dec 2022 B. Pospichal and U. Löhnert https://doi.org/10.60656/b6d009f082744d9a

Microwave Radiometer Observations during FESSTVaL 2021 (Version 00) U. Löhnert et al. https://doi.org/10.25592/uhhfdm.10198

Calibration experiments of ground-based microwave radiometers T. Böck et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17407965

Short summary

We investigated how accurate modern ground-based weather sensors are in measuring temperature and humidity within the lower atmosphere. We identified different types of small but important measurement error inherent to the instruments. Understanding these issues helps improve data quality and supports better short-term weather forecasts using sensor networks across Europe.