Products
Along with its predecessor SMMR, the SSM/I contributes to an archive of global passive microwave products from late 1978 to present.
Information within the SSM/I TBs measurements allow the retrieval of four important meteorological parameters over the ocean: near-surface wind speed (note scalar not vector), total columnar water vapor, total columnar cloud liquid water (liquid water path) and precipitation. Accurate and quantitative measurement of these parameters from the SSM/I TBs is, however, a non-trivial task. Variations within the meteorological parameters significantly modify the TBs. As well as open ocean retrievals, it is also possible to retrieve quantitatively reliable information on sea ice, land snow cover and over-land precipitation.
Read more about this topic: Special Sensor Microwave/imager
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