ADVANCED MICROWAVE SOUNDING UNIT-A (AMSU-A) SWATH FROM NOAA-17

AMSU-A, the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit, is a 15-channel passive microwave radiometer used to profile atmospheric temperature and moisture from the earth's surface to ~45 km (3 millibars). All orbits beginning in the day (00:00:00 - 23:59:59 UTC) are stored in one daily HDF-EOS file. Each file contains 15 (channel) arrays, as well as corresponding latitude, longitude, and time. AMSU flies on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) polar orbiting spacecraft as part of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). The Third Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A was launched on NOAA-17 on 24 June 2002 from Vandenberg AFB, California on a Titan II booster.