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MIR is a total power cross-track scanning radiometer that measures millimeter-wave radiation at 9 channels: 89, 150, 183.3+/-3, 183.3+/-7, 220, 325+/-1, 325+/-3, 325+/-8ghz. It utilizes the strong water vapor lines at 183.3 and 325 Ghz to provide estimation of atmospheric water vapor profiles. As radiation in this frequency range also responds strongly to absorption and scattering by clouds and hydrometeors, the instrument could provide a measure of cloud and rain-associated parameters.
The instrument was first flown in May, 1992, and has accumulated more than 400 flight hours since. It has been involved in a number of field experiments e,g, TOGA/COARE - Tropical ocean Global Atmosphere/Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment; CAMEX - Convection and Atmospheric Moisture Experiment, SUCCESS - Subsonic aircraft: Contrail and Cloud Effect Special Studies, WINCE - WINter Cloud Experiment, as well as the calibration/validation work for the SSM/T-2 - Special Sensor Microwave/Temperature-2 aboard the Defense Meterological Satellite Project DMSP, F11 and F12 satellites. Excellent data sets were acquired in all of these flights.
| Accuracy : | +/-2 Kelvin |
| Precision : | 0.5 Kelvin |
| Angular Swath : | +/-50 |
| Beamwidth : | ~ 3 independent of frequencies |
| Response Time : | ~40 msec |
| Weight : | ~180 lbs |
| Power : | ~400 watts |
| Platform : | ER-2 aircraft |
| Location : | Right front wing pod |
Racette, P., R.F. Adler, A.J. Gasiewski, D.M. Jackson, J.R. Wang and D.S. Zacharias; An airborne millimeter-wave imaging radiometer for cloud, precipitation and water vapor studies, J. Atmos.Ocean.Tech., 13(3), 610-619, 1996.
Wang, J.R., S.H. Melfi, P. Racette, D.N. Whitemen, L.A. Chang, R.A. Ferrare, K.D. Evans and F.J. Schmidlin; Simultaneous measurements of atmosperic water vapor with MIR, Raman lidar and rawinsondes., J.Appl.Meteor., 34(7) 1595-1607, 1995.
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