Geostationary microwave sounder requirements

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is considering a microwave radiometer for the next series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES-R) to be launched starting in 2012. This paper examines the products proposed for the geostationary microwave radiometer in the light of current microwave retrieval algorithms and estimates the performance achievable from geostationary altitude with a three-meter antenna. The results suggest that hemispheric soundings and rain rates can be generated on an hourly basis with the desired accuracy and horizontal resolution, that capping inversions can be detected in conjunction with infrared soundings, that hurricane warm core temperatures can be resolved using high frequencies plus deconvolution and that ocean wind and total precipitable water products can be provided with close to the desired resolution.