Characterization of Brightness Temperature Biases at Channels 13 and 14 for FY-3C MWHS-2

Abstract

The second generation Microwave Humidity Sounder (MWHS-2) onboard Fengyun (FY)-3C has a data quality comparable to that of counterpart microwave moisture sounders. However, channels 13 and 14 have large biases that are negatively correlated with the instrument temperature and prevent the operational assimilation of the data of these two channels. To better understand the biases of channels 13 and 14, the correlation of the observation minus simulation data (O-B bias) of different channels with the instrument temperature and other factors is investigated for FY-3C MWHS-2 in this paper. A sensitivity analysis using a gradient boosting decision tree indicates that the instrument temperature and scan position are the two dominant factors, with total bias-contribution scores exceeding 0.8 for both channels 13 and 14. This conclusion is verified through further analysis of the bias distributions for the scan position, scene brightness temperature and ascending/descending orbits. Using 12-week data recorded in 2016, the correlations of the O-B bias with the scan position and instrument temperature are specifically investigated and a correction algorithm is formulated, with which data for 2016 and 2017 are corrected. The corrected data in both channels have smaller, more stable biases, and are less affected by the instrument temperatures and scan position. The bias contributions associated with these two factors should thus be further studied.