Essential to the understanding of global climate change and improved weather forecasts is the gathering of basic data of variables such as temperature, pressure, wind, and the distribution of water vapor, clouds, and other active constituents. The microwave frequency region plays a special role in the remote sensing of these variables because microwave signals penetrate through clouds and therefore provide capabilities of retrieving the parameters under all weather conditions. New instruments provide unprecedented observations of the Earth's environment and offer many unique opportunities to further improve our understanding of weather and climate changes and to benefit significantly the numerical weather prediction. Knowledge of the satellite instrument in-orbit performances is important for better utilization of satellite data in numerical weather prediction models. The topics covered in this book are the fundamentals of satellite microwave instrument calibration, remote sensing sciences and algorithms, and the applications of satellite microwave observations in weather and climate research. The reader gains a full knowledge of satellite microwave instrument calibration and fundamental remote sensing theory and helpful hints for applying microwave data in research and operations, of particular interest to those involved in meteorology and climate research. weiterlesen