WindSat Polarimetric Microwave Radiometer
The WindStat Polarimetric Microwave Radiometer is a 22-channel microwave radiometer designed to measure the ocean surface wind vector from space, in addition to sea surface temperature, total precipitable water, integrated cloud liquid water, and rain rate over the ocean. WindSat is also used to measure soil moisture, sea ice and tropical cyclone structure. WindSat uses a 1.8 m offset reflector antenna fed by 11 dual-polarised feed horns. The antenna beams view the Earth at incidence angles ranging from 50 to 55 degrees. The feedhorns of each frequency channel trace out different arcs along the scan, therefore the Earth Incidence Angles (EIA) are different for each frequency band. The WindSat sensor takes observations during both the forward and aft looking scans. The 10.7, 18.7 and 37.0 GHz bands are fully polarimetric. Six principal polarisations are measured directly using three dual polarisation feeds at each of the polarimetric frequencies. The 6.8 and 23.8 GHz channels are dual-polarised as data at these frequencies are used for secondary parameters such as sea surface temperature and water vapour, which support the wind vector retrievals. WindSat operates in discrete bands at frequencies of 6.8, 10.7, 18.7, 23.8, and 37.0 GHz. The antenna rotates at 30 rpm. Measurements are made over a forward swath of 1400 km and an aft swath of 750 km. Flown on Coriolis. https://www.nrl.navy.mil/WindSat/Description.php
L05: water body temperature sensor
L05: atmospheric radiometers
WindSat