Passive active L- and S-band (PALS) microwave sensor for ocean salinity and soil moisture measurements

A passive/active WS-band (PALS) microwave aircraft instrument to measure ocean salinity and soil moisture has been built and tested. Because the L-band brightness temperatures associated with salinity changes are expected to be small, it was necessary to build a very sensitive and stable system. Thi...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	IEEE transactions on geoscience and remote sensing Vol. 39; no. 5; pp. 1039 - 1048
Main Authors:	Wilson, W.J., Yueh, S.H., Dinardo, S.J., Chazanoff, S.L., Kitiyakara, A., Li, F.K., Rahmat-Samii, Y.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	New York, NY IEEE 01-05-2001 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subjects:	Air traffic control Aircraft manufacture Antenna measurements Applied geophysics Brightness temperature Construction Earth sciences Earth, ocean, space Exact sciences and technology External geophysics Instruments Internal geophysics Meteorological satellites Microwave sensors Moisture measurement Oceans Physical and chemical properties of sea water Physics of the oceans Polarization Radar Salinity Sea measurements Soil measurements Soil moisture Soils Surficial geology Temperature USA, Oklahoma USA, Virginia North Carolina Cape Hatteras United States Oklahoma North Atlantic Great Plains Dare County North Carolina Southern Great Plains Virginia Gulf Stream Northwest Atlantic ANW, USA, Virginia USA, Great Plains ANW, Atlantic, Gulf Stream USA, Oklahoma ANW, USA, North Carolina, Cape Hatteras A, Atlantic, Gulf Stream salinity soil moisture Atlantic Ocean remote sensing microwave methods North America airborne methods brightness temperature marine environment radiometry polarization calibration radar methods
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	A passive/active WS-band (PALS) microwave aircraft instrument to measure ocean salinity and soil moisture has been built and tested. Because the L-band brightness temperatures associated with salinity changes are expected to be small, it was necessary to build a very sensitive and stable system. This new instrument has dual-frequency, dual polarization radiometer and radar sensors. The antenna is a high beam efficiency conical horn. The PALS instrument was installed on the NCAR C-130 aircraft and soil moisture measurements were made in support of the Southern Great Plains 1999 experiment in Oklahoma from July 8-14, 1999. Data taken before and after a rainstorm showed significant changes in the brightness temperatures, polarization ratios and radar backscatter, as a function of soil moisture. Salinity measurement missions were flown on July 17-19, 1999, southeast of Norfolk, VA, over the Gulf Stream. The measurements indicated a clear and repeatable salinity signal during these three days, which was in good agreement with the Cape Hatteras ship salinity data. Data were also taken in the open ocean and a small decrease of 0.2 K was measured in the brightness temperature, which corresponded to the salinity increase of 0.4 psu measured by the M/V Oleander vessel.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:	0196-2892 1558-0644
DOI:	10.1109/36.921422