The Radiometric Sensitivity Requirements for Satellite Microwave Temperature Sounding Instruments for NWP

Title
The Radiometric Sensitivity Requirements for Satellite Microwave Temperature Sounding Instruments for NWP
Technical memorandum
Date Published
02/2009
Secondary Title
ECMWF Technical Memoranda
Number
583
Author
W. Bell
S. Di Michele
Peter Bauer
A. McNally
S.J. English
Nigel Atkinson
J. Charlton
Publisher
ECMWF
Abstract The sensitivity of NWP forecast accuracy with respect to the radiometric performance of microwave sounders is assessed through a series of observing system experiments at the Met Office and ECMWF. The observing system experiments compare the impact of normal data from a single AMSU with that from an AMSU where synthetic noise has been added. The results show a measurable reduction in forecast improvement in the southern hemisphere with improvements reduced by 11% for relatively small increases in radiometric noise (NEDT increased from 0.1 to 0.2 K for remapped data). The impact of microwave sounding data is shown to be significantly less than was the case prior to the use of advanced infrared sounder data (AIRS and IASI) with microwave sounding data now reducing Southern Hemisphere forecast errors by approximately 10% compared to 40% in the pre-AIRS/IASI period.
URL https://www.ecmwf.int/en/elibrary/73641-radiometric-sensitivity-requirements-satellite-microwave-temperature-sounding
DOI 10.21957/ytyff7yi
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