Radiometer Testbed Development for SWOT

Abstract

Conventional altimeters include nadir looking colocated 18-37 GHz microwave radiometer to measure wet tropospheric path delay. These have reduced accuracy in coastal zone (within ~50 km from land) and do not provide wet path delay over land. The addition of high frequency channels to Jason-class radiometer will improve retrievals in coastal regions and enable retrievals over land. High-frequency window channels, 90, 130 and 166 GHz are optimum for improving performance in coastal region and channels on 183 GHz water vapor line are ideal for over-land retrievals.