The Moon as a photometric calibration standard for microwave sensors

Burgdorf, Martin; Buehler, Stefan A.; Lang, Theresa; Michel, Simon; Hans, Imke

doi:10.5194/amt-9-3467-2016

Articles | Volume 9, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3467-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3467-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 9, issue 8

Research article

|

01 Aug 2016

Research article |

| 01 Aug 2016

The Moon as a photometric calibration standard for microwave sensors

Martin Burgdorf, Stefan A. Buehler, Theresa Lang, Simon Michel, and Imke Hans

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Dec 2022	17	7	2	26
Jan 2023	26	18	2	46
Feb 2023	21	8	1	30
Mar 2023	19	8	0	27
Apr 2023	20	8	3	31
May 2023	58	12	1	71
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Feb 2024	43	9	0	52
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Apr 2024	55	7	4	66
May 2024	33	11	4	48
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Jul 2024	26	7	3	36
Aug 2024	39	9	1	49
Sep 2024	20	13	0	33
Oct 2024	21	6	0	27
Nov 2024	13	3	1	17
Dec 2024	13	8	2	23
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Feb 2025	22	16	1	39
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Apr 2025	20	11	0	31
May 2025	26	4	3	33
Jun 2025	56	17	1	74
Jul 2025	49	22	5	76
Aug 2025	35	30	0	65
Sep 2025	65	18	3	86
Oct 2025	25	13	1	39
Nov 2025	37	23	8	68
Dec 2025	20	13	5	38

Cumulative views and downloads (calculated since 29 Feb 2016)

Month	HTML	PDF	XML	Total
Feb 2016	21	4	1	26
Mar 2016	73	21	3	97
Apr 2016	13	2	0	15
May 2016	10	4	5	19
Jun 2016	11	7	3	21
Jul 2016	5	3	1	9
Aug 2016	83	23	1	107
Sep 2016	12	6	1	19
Oct 2016	15	6	1	22
Nov 2016	4	3	0	7
Dec 2016	3	4	0	7
Jan 2017	11	5	1	17
Feb 2017	8	3	0	11
Mar 2017	12	9	2	23
Apr 2017	15	12	2	29
May 2017	19	14	0	33
Jun 2017	24	11	1	36
Jul 2017	17	13	1	31
Aug 2017	7	8	2	17
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Oct 2017	8	10	1	19
Nov 2017	5	9	1	15
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Oct 2022	20	8	5	33
Nov 2022	20	8	0	28
Dec 2022	17	7	2	26
Jan 2023	26	18	2	46
Feb 2023	21	8	1	30
Mar 2023	19	8	0	27
Apr 2023	20	8	3	31
May 2023	58	12	1	71
Jun 2023	65	6	1	72
Jul 2023	49	5	1	55
Aug 2023	48	12	2	62
Sep 2023	47	7	2	56
Oct 2023	51	9	1	61
Nov 2023	24	2	4	30
Dec 2023	49	6	1	56
Jan 2024	47	1	1	49
Feb 2024	43	9	0	52
Mar 2024	50	11	2	63
Apr 2024	55	7	4	66
May 2024	33	11	4	48
Jun 2024	22	10	3	35
Jul 2024	26	7	3	36
Aug 2024	39	9	1	49
Sep 2024	20	13	0	33
Oct 2024	21	6	0	27
Nov 2024	13	3	1	17
Dec 2024	13	8	2	23
Jan 2025	19	5	0	24
Feb 2025	22	16	1	39
Mar 2025	31	10	1	42
Apr 2025	20	11	0	31
May 2025	26	4	3	33
Jun 2025	56	17	1	74
Jul 2025	49	22	5	76
Aug 2025	35	30	0	65
Sep 2025	65	18	3	86
Oct 2025	25	13	1	39
Nov 2025	37	23	8	68
Dec 2025	20	13	5	38

Latest update: 25 Dec 2025

Short summary

The upper-tropospheric humidity is an essential climate variable, which can be measured with microwave sounders in polar orbits. A stable photometric calibration of these instruments is indispensable for detecting long-term trends. We demonstrate that this can be achieved by using the Moon in a fixed phase as a flux standard for dedicated pitch maneuver observations. This method is particularly suited for future sensors with small beamwidths.