Instrument description of the airborne microwave temperature profiler

Abstract

The microwave temperature profiler (MTP) is a passive microwave radiometer installed in the NASA ER‐2 aircraft and used to measure profiles of air temperature versus altitude. It operates at 57.3 and 58.8 GHz, where oxygen molecules emit thermal radiation. Brightness temperature is measured at a selection of viewing elevation angles every 14 s. MTP was the only remote sensing experiment aboard the ER‐2 during the Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment. This paper describes hardware, calibration, and performance aspects of the MTP.