Instruments

Overview

The Instrumentation Sciences Branch develops a suite of microwave remote sensing instruments in support of Earth Sciences Research. These instruments are used in a wide variety of laboratory and field studies for basic Earth Sciences research, and for the development of new designs and capabilities for microwave remote sensing measurements.

A suite of airborne and satellite instruments are based on scanning radiometer designs that use cross-track and conically scanning techniques to measure microwave radiances in a swath below an aircraft or spacecraft.

Instruments currently being maintained or constructed by the Instrumentation Sciences Branch include:

• Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (MIR)
• Conical Scanning Submillimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSSIR)
• Conically Scanning Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSMIR)
• Airborne C-band Microwave Radiometer (ACMR)
• Airborne Earth Sciences Microwave Imaging Radiometer (AESMIR)
• L-band Radiometer (LRAD)
• Electronically Scanning Thinned-Array Radiometer (ESTAR)
• 2 dimensional Synthetic Thinned Array Radiometer (2D-STAR)

The Instrumentation Sciences Branch also maintains close support of:

• Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission's Precipitation Radar(TRMM/PR)
• Airborne ER-2 Doppler Radar(EDOP)
• Cloud Radar System (CRS) a 94 GHz. Radar, part of Goddard's Atmospheric Program (Code 613.1)

There are several instruments/projects supported by this branch in association with Wallops Flight Facility.

• AEROLAB
• UAIRP
• NPOL
• EAARL