About 

Aboard JAXA's GCOM-W1 satellite, AMSR-2 is a microwave radiometer that measures dual polarized - vertical (V) and horizontal (H) - radiances at 6.9, 7.3, 10.65, 18.7, 23.8, 36.5, and 89.0 GHz. Brightness temperature (T_B) is a passive measurement of radiance from the microwave radiation emitted from the atmosphere and represented in units of temperature. Brightness temperatures observed by AMSR-2 are linearly correlated with temperatures at the Earth's surface. There is high transmittance in the microwave spectrum, so there is rarely interference due to weather, resulting in near-full coverage.

The EDRs provided by OSPO are L2 products. These are calibrated, corrected, reformatted, and flagged by the GCOM-W1 AMSR-2 Algorithm Software Processor (GAASP) from the L1B data provided by NASA. Further processing for ocean and precipitation products utilize a regression-based approach from AMSR-E, and the Goddard Profiling Algorithm (GPROF) respectively.

Limitations

AWIPS Product Availability: While there are products from 7 channels, only 36.5H, 36.5V, 89.0AH, 89.0AV are in the TOWR-S RPM v22 menu. The 6.925(H/V), 7.3(H/V), 10.65(H/V), 18.7(H/V), and 23.8(H/V) products may be viewed via OSPO.

AWIPS 

Location: Satellite → Polar Derived Products Imagery → AMSR2 Imagery

Color Maps: Sat/MW/nrl_micro37ghz_swaths; Sat/MW/nrl_micro89ghz_swaths

Sampling: Kelvin

Quality Flags: RFI, Sun Glint

Technique: While brightness temperature products are useful on their own to track temperature gradients, they also contribute to the production of several ocean, land surface, and precipitation products. These include: Cloud Liquid Water, Land Cover Type, Rain Rate, Sea Ice, Sea Surface Temperature, Sea Surface Wind Speed, Snow Cover, Snow Depth, Snow Water Equivalent, Soil Moisture, and Total Precipitable Water.