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CAMEX-4 DC-8 Microwave Temperature Profiler (MTP) Table of Contents
The fourth field campaign in the Convection and Moisture Experiment series (CAMEX-4) ran from 16 August to 25 September, 2001 and was based out of Jacksonville Naval Air Station, Florida. CAMEX-4 focused on the study of tropical cyclone (hurricane) development, tracking, intensification, and landfalling impacts using NASA-funded aircraft and surface remote sensing instrumentation. The NASA DC-8 carried numerous instruments durnig the the experiment. The Microwave Temperature Profiler (MTP) retrieves profiles of air temperature versus altitude along an aircraft flight track. It does this by measuring the natural thermal microwave emission from oxygen molecules in the earth’s atmosphere, and then performing a statistical retrieval inversion procedure. This retrieval is based on an archive of thousands of atmospheric soundings that results in the most likely temperature profile given the measurements. This retrieved profile is then displayed on monitors throughout the DC-8 and can be used for real time flight planning. JPL, the instrument owner, has an outstanding web page that has detailed information about the instrument and remote microwave remote sensing in general. Additionally, there is provided an instrument history, photos and tools for use in data analysis. That web page is located at the Microwave Temperature Profiler web site, which links to an excellent tutorial about microwave temperature measurements. Instrument DescriptionThe DC-8 MTP is a passive microwave radiometer that measures the natural thermal emission from oxygen molecules at three frequencies (55.51, 56.66 and 58.79 GHz). The instrument views ten elevation angles between - 80 and +80 degrees by using a scanning mirror, located behind a microwave window on the sensor unit, to change the viewing direction. The sensor unit is located in a window just aft of the forward starboard exit door. The MTP retrieves profiles of air temperature versus altitude, which it displays on a dedicated color LCD display beside the Mission Manager's console. This signal is distributed to the ICATS monitors throughout the aircraft. There is more information available about the instrument, installation and display available here. Data Products and FormatData are 'tarred' into daily (mission) data files of the form:
where c4dmtp represents CAMEX-4 and the DC-8 MTP instrument, 2001.jjj is the four digit year and day of year, 010mmm is the unique mission number. When untarred, this will yield a datafile and an image file. File naming convention for the data file is:
where MP identifies the data as from the microwave profiler, yyyymmdd is the four digit year month and day of month. DC-8 advises that these data are from the DC-8 mounted instrument. The data is in ascii, with a large descriptive header. This header describes in detail the format of the data which follows. A tipical data header is shown here.
is the file name for the image file that may be viewed with almost any image viewer and an example appears below:
To order these data or for further information, please contact:
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