Instrument : MWRP

Microwave Radiometer Profiler

Instrument Categories
Radiometric, Cloud Properties, Atmospheric Profiling

General Overview

Picture of the microwave radiometer profiler (MWRP)

The microwave radiometer profiler (MWRP) provides vertical profiles of temperature, humidity, and cloud liquid water content as a function of height or pressure at approximately 5-minute intervals for nearly all weather conditions. The profiles are derived from measurements of absolute microwave radiances (expressed as "brightness temperatures") obtained at twelve frequencies in the range of 22-30 GHz and 51-59 GHz. The data are useful for input to numerical weather forecast models and others that require continuous, high temporal resolution profiles. The microwave radiance measurements are useful for testing models of microwave radiation transfer used to derive the profiles.

Output Datastreams

  • mwrp : Microwave Radiometer data (MWR Profiles - QME), water vapor, temp, cloud liquid water, precip water retrievals

Primary Measurements

The following measurements are those considered scientifically relevant. Refer to the datastream (netCDF) file headers for the list of all available measurements, including those recorded for diagnostic or quality assurance purposes.

Locations

  • North Slope Alaska (NSA)
    • Central Facility, Barrow AK (C1)
  • ARM Mobile Facility (FKB)
    • Black Forest, Germany (M1)
  • ARM Mobile Facility (GRW)
    • Graciosa Island, Azores, Portugal (M1)
  • ARM Mobile Facility (HFE)
    • Shouxian, Anhui, China (M1)
  • ARM Mobile Facility (NIM)
    • Niamey, Niger (M1)
  • ARM Mobile Facility (PYE)
    • Point Reyes, CA (M1)

Contact(s)

Maria Cadeddu
(630) 252-7408
mcadeddu@anl.gov