BackForwardInstrument:  MHS (EOS-07) 

Instrument details
Acronym MHS (EOS-07)
Full name Microwave Humidity Sounder on EOS-07
Purpose To do humidity sounding in nearly-all-weather conditions and provide proxy for precipitation.
Short description

A microwave radiometer with 6 channels centred on the 183 GHz water vapour line (see table below).
Background

A development from SAPHIR on MegaTropiques to fit on a small satellite.
Scanning Technique

Cross-track scanning, swath 1050 km.
Resolution 10k km at nadir.
Coverage / Cycle
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency ISRO
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2023 to 2024
Last update: 2024-06-03
Detailed characteristics
Channel number Centre frequency (GHz) Polarisation Bandwidth (MHz) NeDT (K)
1 183.31 ± 15.75 QH 1000 0.8
2 183.31 ± 11.56 QH 900 1
3 183.31 ± 5.8 QH 700 1
4 183.31 ± 4.5 QH 1000 0.85
5 183.31 ± 2.8 QH 600 0.85
6 183.31 ± 0.96 QH 300 1.5
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Passive microwave radiometer
  • Cross-track, special or non-scanning microwave radiometer
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 1
  • MW sounder and imagery in inclined orbits
  • MW sounder and imager in inclined orbits
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Integrated Water Vapour (IWV)
  • Specific humidity
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Downward long-wave irradiance at Earth surface5 - marginalHighly indirect.MW channels in 183 GHz band to account for downward cloud radiation
Precipitation intensity at surface (liquid or solid)5 - marginalNo specific limitation.MW channels in the 183 GHz band. Suitable for solid precipitation over sea and land, Insensitive to surface emissivity
Specific humidity*3 - highCoarse vertical resolution.MW channels in the 183 GHz band
Integrated Water Vapour (IWV)*2 - very highNo specific limitation.MW channels in the water vapour band around 183 GHz
Upward long-wave irradiance at Earth surface5 - marginalHighly indirect.MW channels is the 183 GHz band to infer the impact of clouds on the upward LW radiation