Lecturer: Jana Mendrok (NICT) Date: 2009-09-03 15:00 Place: Aniara
Sub-mm/THz radiative transfer modeling and remote sensing at NICT
Jana Mendrok, Ph.D.
Environmental Sensing and Network Group,
Applied Electromagnetic Research Center
National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT)
4-2-1 Nukui-kita, Koganei, Tokyo 184-8795, JAPAN.
Abstract
NICT, Japan's National Institute of Information and
Communications Technology, is strongly engaged in the development of
sensors for active and passive remote sensing, including radar
(e.g., TRMM, EarthCARE-CPR, GPM), lidar, and passive sub-millimeter
spectrometer (e.g., SMILES) technology. In close collaboration with
the instrument teams, algorithms for environmental sensing
applications are developed.
I will give a short overview of the projects related to (satellite)
environmental sensing, then focus on the SMILES mission and the SMART
project.
SMILES, the Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder,
will be launched to International Space Station in September 2009. Its
primary mission objective is to demonstrate sensitive submillimeter-wave
sounding technology in space, employing a superconductive low-noise
receiver with a mechanical 4-K refrigerator, used in space for the
first time. Operating in the 600 GHz band, SMILES will monitor global
distributions of various stratospheric trace gases, in particular
species related to ozone and halogen chemistry. Despite not being
primarily designed for it, SMILES is planned to be used for observations
of troposheric ice clouds, UTLS water vapor, and tropospheric pollution
tracer species as well.
I will introduce the SMILES mission and present the current status
of algorithm and processing development, particularly focusing on
cloud related issues (radiative transfer forward model developments,
cloud measurement capabilities, retrieval algorithm approaches).
With the heritage of SMILES, we recently started research on a sub-mm
instrument dedicated for cloud ice measurements, tentatively named
SMART (Submm-wave Multi-frequency ImAging RadiomeTer). I will
introduce the current instrument concept (minimized frequency band
receiver-array), the sensitivity/capability study, and the current
status of the project in the Japanese community.
Created 2009-08-05 23:16:36 by Mats Holmström Last changed 2009-09-01 09:05:26 by Mats Holmström
