MSPPS project is dedicated to the retrieval of near-real-time operational surface and precipitation products using antenna temperatures from the AMSU-A and AMSU-B/MHS instruments on board of NOAA's KLMNN' series and the EUMETSAT Polar System's (EPS) MetOp series polar-orbiting satellites. This project has advanced from 5 products at its Day-1 phase to 9 products at the Day-2 phase. The current Day-2 MSPPS products include: rain rate and falling snow, total precipitable water, cloud liquid water, snow cover, snow water equivalent, sea ice concentration, ice water path, emissivity (23.8 GHz, 31.4 GHz, and 50.3 GHz), and land surface temperature . The MSPPS geophysical products depicted on this web site are Day-2 products undergoing extensive validation. The algorithms are also under continuing development.

NOAA-15 (or NOAA-K), which was launched on May 13, 1998, is the first in the series to support microwave instruments, AMSU-A and AMSU-B, for the generation of hydrological products in cloudy regions where visible and infrared instruments have decreased capability. NOAA-16 (or NOAA-L) was launched on September 21, 2000, NOAA-17 (or NOAA-M) on June 24, 2002, NOAA-18 (or NOAA-N) on May 20, 2005, and EUMETSAT's MetOp-A (or MetOp-2) on October 19, 2006.

AMSU-A is a 15-channel cross-track, stepped-line scanning, total power microwave radiometer. The instrument has an instantaneous field-of-view of 3.3^o at the half-power points providing a nominal spatial resolution at nadir of 48 km (29.8 mi). The antenna provides a cross-track scan, scanning +48.3^o(-48.3^o) from nadir with a total of 30 Earth fields-of-view per scan line. This instrument completes one scan every 8 seconds.

AMSU-B is a 5 channel cross-track, continuous line scanning, total power microwave radiometer. The instrument has an instantaneous field-of-view of 1.1^o. Spatial resolution at nadir is nominally 16 km (9.94 mi). The antenna provides a cross-track scan, scanning +48.95^o(-48.95^o) from nadir with a total of 90 Earth fields-of-view per scan line. This instrument completes one scan every 8/3 seconds.

MHS is a 5 channel cross-track, continuous line scanning, total power microwave radiometer. The instrument has an instantaneous field-of-view of 1.11^o. Spatial resolution at nadir is nominally 17 km (10.56 mi). The antenna provides a cross-track scan, scanning +50^o(-50^o) from nadir with a total of 90 Earth fields-of-view per scan line. This instrument completes one scan every 8/3 seconds.

MSPPS Level-2 and Level-3 data are stored in the HDF-EOS format, an extension of NCSA's HDF (for NCSA's tutorials, click here), developed by NASA to support its Earth Observing System (EOS). Among other attributes, the multi-object HDF-EOS format which supports compression is portable, flexible, and self-defining. Algorithms are under continuing development. The MSPPS geophysical products depicted on this Web site are "Day-2" products undergoing extensive validation.