THE ERS-1 MICROWAVE RADIOMETER

The microwave radiometer on board ERS-1 developed at CRPE has two chan nels at 23.8 and 36.5 GHz. It is a nadir pointing sensor, aimed at the correction of the altimeter tropospheric path delay. It also provides the precipitable water and cloud liquid water over oceans along the s atellite track. However, the measured brightness temperatures can be u sed to characterize polar ice and land surface properties. This paper summarises the characteristics of the instrument, describes the scient ific requirements for data processing and presents its first results a fter launch.