ADVANCED MICROWAVE SOUNDING UNIT-A (AMSU-A) SWATH FROM NOAA-16

AMSU-A, the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit, is a 15-channel passive microwave radiometer used to profile atmospheric temperature and moisture from the earth's surface to ~45 km (3 millibars). All orbits beginning in the day (00:00:00 - 23:59:59 UTC) are stored in one daily HDF-EOS file. Each file contains 15 (channel) arrays, as well as corresponding latitude, longitude, and time. AMSU flies on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) polar orbiting spacecraft as part of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). Launched on 21 September 2000, NOAA-16 is in a sun synchronous near polar orbit.

AMSU-A，即高级微波 sounding 单元，是一款具备15个通道的被动微波辐射计，用于从地表至约45公里（3毫巴）高度的大气温度和湿度进行剖面测量。所有从白天（00:00:00 - 23:59:59 UTC）开始的轨道数据均存储于单一每日 HDF-EOS 文件中。每个文件包含15个（通道）数组，以及相应的纬度、经度和时间信息。AMSU搭载于美国国家海洋和大气管理局（National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration，简称NOAA）的极地轨道航天器上，作为国家极地轨道运营环境卫星系统（National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System，简称NPOESS）的一部分。NOAA-16于2000年9月21日发射升空，目前处于太阳同步近极地轨道。