NOAA's Microwave Integrated Retrieval System in the NPP/NPOESS era

We present in this study the capability of the Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MiRS) to exploit data from the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) onboard the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite and future NPOESS missions, for temperature and humidity sounding, surface emissivity, rainfall rate, and other microwave-based products such as Total Precipitable Water (TPW). The MiRS, implemented operationally at the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA), is a generic one-dimensional variational retrieval algorithm applicable over all surface types and in all weather conditions. The current MiRS algorithm produces sounding, hydrometeor, and surface products from current POES, Metop and DMSP satellite sensor suites. Its modular design allows for the extension to other current and future platforms as well, with minimal efforts. This study will provide an overview of these efforts, exhibit the end-to-end processing of MiRS applied to ATMS using simulated proxy data, as well as cover the scientific monitoring and validation systems for MiRS ATMS products.