An algorithm for retrieval of ocean surface and atmospheric parameters from the observations of the scanning multichannel microwave radiometer

Abstract

The scanning multichannel microwave radiometer is a five‐frequency (6.6, 10.7, 18, 21, and 37 GHz), dual‐polarized microwave radiometer, which was launched in two separate satellites, Nimbus 7 and Seasat, in 1978. A formalism is developed which can be used to interpret the data in terms of sea surface temperature, sea surface wind speed, and the atmospheric content of water vapor and liquid water. It is shown with reasonable instrumental performance assumptions that these parameters can be derived to useful accuracies. Although the algorithms are not derived for use in rain, it is shown that at least token rain rates can be tolerated without invalidating the retrieved geophysical parameters.