NOAA-20 was successfully launched on 18th November 2017. Together with Suomi NPP, the two Advanced Technology Microwave Sounders (ATMS) onboard provide global information contents about atmospheric temperature, water vapor, clouds, and surface temperature and snow/ice four times daily (more frequent at high latitudes). The information contents are operationally used in radiance assimilation at numerical weather prediction centers in supporting of weather forecasting. The ATMS data are also utilized in the NOAA Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MiRS) and other satellite products retrieval systems, generating more than 10 environmental data records (EDR). Both NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP ATMS perform well.
It has been known in science that imperfect reflector can cause some measurement errors. Thanks to JPSS post-launch test program that provides unique opportunity to characterize the error during specific spacecraft maneuvers toward ATMS looking at moon.
The reflector emission correction will be applied in calibration for the first time. The algorithm is based on radiance calibration, different from temperature calibration that is typically used in the microwave instrument calibration. The temperature calibration is a good approximation for microwave sensors at low frequencies within a normal temperature range (Earth scene temperature). But, errors may increase at high frequencies also at a low temperature when sensors look at cold space.
Both NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP ATMS exceed specification requirements. NOAA-20 ATMS outperforms Soumi NPP ATMS. Noise correlation between channels for NOAA-20 ATMS is much smaller than that for Suomi NPP ATMS. Instrument noise and image striping of NOAA-20 ATMS are smaller as well.
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