Trade-Offs in the Design of Satellite Sounding Instruments

In the design of satellite sounding instruments, there are many factors that determine the accuracies of the retrieved temperature and moisture profiles; however, the three major factors are instrument noise, number of channels, and weighting function half-widths. The effect of these three factors o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of atmospheric and oceanic technology 1985-09, Vol.2 (3), p.278-284
Main Authors: McMillin, Larry M., Fleming, Henry E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In the design of satellite sounding instruments, there are many factors that determine the accuracies of the retrieved temperature and moisture profiles; however, the three major factors are instrument noise, number of channels, and weighting function half-widths. The effect of these three factors on retrieved temperatures are examined through simulation studies to determine trade-offs among them. It is concluded that the trade-offs among the three factors suggest that very different instrument designs can yield similar accuracies. Consequently, the instrument design that provides optimum performance can be recognized only after a trade-off analysis is made. If the design with the best performance is to be selected, it is particularly important that the designs be given equal benefit of factors that are not intrinsic design differences.
ISSN:0739-0572
1520-0426
DOI:10.1175/1520-0426(1985)002<0278:TOITDO>2.0.CO;2