Microwave humidity sounder
The Microwave Humidity Sounder is a five-channel passive microwave radiometer, with channels from 89 to 190 GHz. It is very similar in design to the AMSU-B instrument, but some channel frequencies have been altered. It is used to study profiles of atmospheric water vapor and provide improved input data to the cloud-clearing algorithms in the IR and MW sounder suites. Instruments were launched on NOAA's POES satellite series starting with NOAA-18 launched in May 2005 and the European Space Agency's MetOp series starting with MetOp-A launched in October 2006, continuing with MetOp-B launched in September 2012 and Metop-C launched in November 2018. The follow on instrument to MHS is MWS on the Metop-SGA satellites.
The Microwave Humidity Sounder was designed and developed by Astrium EU in Portsmouth, UK, under contract to EUMETSAT.
Instrument characteristics
- Heritage: AMSU-B, HSB
- Swath: 1650 km
- Spatial resolution: 17 km horizontal at nadir
- Mass: 63 kg
- Duty cycle: 100%
- Power: 74 W
- Data rate: 4.2 kbit/s
- Field of View: ± 49.5 degrees cross-track
- Instrument Instantaneous Field of View: 1.1 degrees circular