Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A) Swath from NOAA-17

AMSU-A is a cross-track, line-scanned instrument designed to measure scene radiances in 15 discrete frequency channels which permit the calculation of the vertical temperature and moisture profiles from about 3 millibars (~45 km) to the Earth's surface. Each scanline contains 30 overlapping cells, each with a resolution of ~3.3 degrees (50 km at nadir). This yields a swath width of 2343 km (96.66 degrees).

The AMSU-A instrument is made up of two separate modules, A1 and A2. AMSU-A1 contains the 13 highest frequencies (50.3 - 89 GHz) of various polarizations. AMSU-A2 contains the two lowest frequency channels (23.8 and 31.4 GHz), both vertically polarized.

The Third Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A was launched on NOAA 17 on 24 June 2002 from Vandenberg AFB, California on a Titan II booster. It failed on orbit on 23 Oct 2003.

More details

(START DATE: 2002-07-21 STOP DATE: 2003-10-23)

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