Comparison Analysis of Microwave Brightness Temperature Data from AMSR-E and MWRI Based on Northeast China

Key words: 
• AMSR-E /
• FY-3A satellite /
• MWRI /
• brightness temperature /
• spatial resolution /
• position matching

Abstract: Passive microwave remote sensing has many significant advantages such as all-day observation, penetrability and uninfluenced by clouds. As the longer wavelengths are not susceptible to atmospheric scattering which affects shorter optical wavelengths, passive microwave remote sensing can overcome shortcomings of spectral remote sensing. As a result, it has wide applications in the research fields of global environmental change. As the satellite-based passive microwave remote sensor, the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) is popularly used in the field of global environmental observation. Microwave Radiation Imager (MWRI) loaded on Chinese FY-3A satellite is an AMSR-E-like conical scanning microwave imager. Comparison analysis of microwave brightness temperature data derived from AMSR-E and MWRI based on Northeast China is described in this paper. An optimal position matching algorithm from rough to exact is proposed for the position matching between AMSR-E and MWRI data. The experimental results show that the error values of brightness temperature between AMSR-E and MWRI usually are in the range of -10K and +10K for the region covered by unified surface type. Effective evaluation of MWRI data quality can provide useful information and broaden data applications.