Design and Field-of-View Calibration of 114–660-GHz Optics of the Earth Observing System Microwave Limb Sounder.

This paper describes the optics design and field-of-view (FOV) calibration for five radiometers covering 114–660 GHz which share a common antenna in the Microwave Limb Sounder instrument on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Aura satellite. Details of near-field pattern measurements are presented. Estimated systematic scaling uncertainties (3σ) on calibrated limb emissions, due to FOV calibration uncertainties, are below 0.4%. 3σ uncertainties in beamwidth and relative pointing of radiometer boresights are 0.006° and 0.003°, respectively. The uncertainty in modeled instrument response, due to the scan dependence of FOV patterns, is less than ±0.24 K equivalent blackbody temperature. Refinements to the calibration using in-flight data are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]