Calibration of the microwave limb sounder on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite

The Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) is a three-radiometer, passive, limb emission instrument onboard the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS). Radiometric, spectral and field-of-view calibrations of the MLS instrument are described in this paper. In-orbit noise performance, gain stability, spectral baseline and dynamic range are described, as well as use of in-flight data for validation and refinement of prelaunch calibrations. Estimated systematic scaling uncertainties (3 sigma) on calibrated limb radiances from prelaunch calibrations are 2.6% in bands 1 through 3, 3.4% in band 4, and 6% in band 5. The observed systematic errors in band 6 are similar to 15%, consistent with prelaunch calibration uncertainties. Random uncertainties on individual limb radiance measurements are very close to the levels predicted from measured radiometer noise temperature, with negligible contribution from noise and drifts on the regular in-flight gain calibration measurements.