A Multisensor Analysis of Nimbus-5 Data Recorded on January 22, 1973

摘要

The Nimbus-5 meteorological satellite has a full complement of radiation sensors. Data from these sensors obtained on January 22, 1973, were analyzed and intercompared for orbits 569 and 570. The electrically-scanning microwave radiometer (19.35-GHz region) delineated rain areas over the ocean off the U. S. east coast, in good agreement with WSR-57 and FPS-77 radar imagery, and permitted the estimation of rainfall rates in this region. Residual ground water, from abnormal rainfall in the lower Mississippi Valley, was indicated under clear sky conditions by soil brightness temperature values in the Nimbus-5 ESMR and U.S. Air Force Data Acquisition and Processing Program (DAPP) infrared data. The temperature-humidity infrared radiometer (6.7μm and 11μm) showed the height and spatial configuration of frontal clouds along the east coast and outlined the confluence of a polar jet stream with a broad subtropical jet stream along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Temperature profiles from three vertical temperature sounders were found to be in good agreement with related radiosonde ascents along orbit 569 from the subtropics to the Arctic Circle.