SSM/I INSTRUMENT EVALUATION

The Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) instrument and scan geometry are briefly described. The results of investigations of the stability of the gain, calibration targets and spin rate, the radiometer noise and sensitivity, the coregistration, the beam width and main-beam efficiency of the antenna beams, and the absolute calibration and geolocation of the instrument are presented. The results of this effort demonstrate that the SSM/I is a stable, sensitive, and well-calibrated microwave radiometric system capable of providing accurate brightness temperatures for microwave images of the earth and for use by environmental product retrieval algorithms. It is predicted that this SSM/I and the 11 future ones currently built or to be built will provide high-performance microwave measurements for determination of global weather and critical atmospheric, oceanographic, and land parameters to operational forecasters and users and the research community for the next two decades.