Sensor · Spaceborne

AMSU-A

Missions → MetOp-A (Ended) , MetOp-B (Operational) , MetOp-C (Operational)

AMSU-A is a cross-track passive microwave temperature sounder using oxygen absorption bands.

Sensor

AMSU-A (Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A) is a cross-track passive microwave radiometer designed for atmospheric temperature profiling using oxygen absorption bands near 50-58 GHz and a window channel at 23.8 GHz. The instrument operates 15 channels and scans cross-track at 30 positions per scan line.^[1] IFOV at nadir is reported as 48 km^[1] and 45 km^[2] in different sources. Swath width is reported as 2250 km^[1] and 1650 km^[2] in different sources.

AMSU-A was built by Northrop Grumman and flew on five NOAA Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (NOAA-15 through NOAA-19) beginning in 1998, on NASA's Aqua satellite, and on EUMETSAT's MetOp-A, MetOp-B, and MetOp-C.^[3]^[4] It provides radiance data used operationally for numerical weather prediction temperature soundings from the surface to the upper stratosphere.^[1] The Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) succeeds AMSU-A on the Joint Polar Satellite System, consolidating the temperature-profiling role of AMSU-A with the humidity-profiling role of AMSU-B into a single instrument.

Operator pricing

Pricing not publicly listed by operator

Supply chain position

carried by MetOp-A

carried by MetOp-B

carried by MetOp-C

Methods this sensor implements

Demonstrated

Microwave atmospheric soundingvia MetOp-A
AMSU-A 15-channel passive microwave sounder; O2 absorption bands 50-58 GHz for temperature profiling; deployed on MetOp-A/B/C, NOAA-15 through NOAA-19, Aqua

Capable, undemonstrated

None on record.

Topics this relates to

Atmospheric profiling Microwave atmospheric sounding(demonstrated)well suited

Cloud properties Microwave atmospheric sounding(demonstrated)marginal

Sources

[1]WMO OSCAR - Details for Instrument AMSU-Aagency doc2026-06-11
[2]Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit - Wikipediacommunity2026-06-11
[3]ESA MetOp - About AMSU-A1agency doc2026-06-11
[4]NOAA MIRS - AMSU-A Overviewoperator engineering2026-06-11

Cite https://eo-atlas.org/products/sensor/amsu-a Markdown twin → Field definitions → Suggest a correction →

How to cite this page

Plain text

AMSU-A. EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V. https://eo-atlas.org/products/sensor/amsu-a (CC BY 4.0)

BibTeX

@misc{eoatlas:products:sensor:amsu-a,
  title = {AMSU-A},
  author = {{EO-Atlas}},
  publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
  url = {https://eo-atlas.org/products/sensor/amsu-a}
}