A Limb Correction Method for the Microwave Temperature Sounder 2 and Its Applications

The Microwave Temperature Sounder 2 (MWTS-2) is a cross-track radiometer that has 13 channels of sampling radiances emitted from different vertical levels of the atmosphere. Because of the varying scan angles of each field of view within a scan line, observations from the MWTS-2 are subject to strong scan-position-dependent features, i.e., the limb effect. When examining brightness temperatures (TBs), weather signals observed at every temperature-sounding channel are often concealed by scan-dependent patterns. This study, therefore, proposes a limb correction method to remove scan-dependent features so that the underlying weather signals can be uncovered. Limb-corrected TBs can be used to monitor large-scale patterns over the globe as well as extreme weather events such as typhoons. Limb-corrected TBs are also more correlated with atmospheric physical variables such as temperature and liquid water path.