# MHS
*sensor . products*

MHS is a cross-track passive microwave humidity sounder flown on operational meteorological satellites.

## Specifications
- **manufacturer**: airbus-ds
- **deployment context**: orbital
- **sensor**: {"instrument_family":"radiometer","measurement_principle":"passive","frequency_bands_ghz":[183.31],"scan_type":"cross-track"}
- **entity type**: sensor
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-11
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: airbus-ds
- **attributes**: {"kind":"sensor","manufacturer":"airbus-ds","description":"MHS is a cross-track passive microwave humidity sounder flown on operational meteorological satellites.","deployment_context":"orbital","sensor":"{\"instrument_family\":\"radiometer\",\"measurement_principle\":\"passive\",\"frequency_bands_ghz\":[183.31],\"scan_type\":\"cross-track\"}"}
- **technology**: microwave-radiometry

## Editorial
MHS (Microwave Humidity Sounder) is a cross-track passive microwave radiometer designed for atmospheric humidity profiling. It operates five channels at 89 GHz, 157 GHz, 183.311+/-1 GHz, 183.311+/-3 GHz, and 190.311 GHz.[^oscar-mhs] The second channel at 157 GHz is a window channel distinct from the 150 GHz channel carried by its predecessor AMSU-B.[^oscar-mhs] MHS provides tropospheric water-vapour profiles and is used operationally in numerical weather prediction.[^eumetsat-mhs]

MHS was built by Astrium Ltd under contract to EUMETSAT.[^esa-mhs-about] It succeeded AMSU-B starting with NOAA-18, and flew on NOAA-18, NOAA-19, MetOp-A, MetOp-B, and MetOp-C.[^oscar-mhs][^noaa-star-mhs] On MetOp platforms it operates alongside AMSU-A, providing complementary humidity profiling to AMSU-A temperature soundings.[^esa-mhs-about]

## Compositional position
- metop-a (missions) --[mission_payloads]--> MHS
- metop-b (missions) --[mission_payloads]--> MHS
- metop-c (missions) --[mission_payloads]--> MHS

## Sources
- [oscar-mhs] | WMO OSCAR - Details for Instrument MHS | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/instruments/view/mhs | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-11
- [esa-mhs-about] | ESA MetOp - About MHS | https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Meteorological_missions/MetOp/About_MHS | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-11
- [eumetsat-mhs] | EUMETSAT - Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) | https://www.eumetsat.int/mhs | tier=operator-engineering | accessed=2026-06-11
- [noaa-star-mhs] | NOAA MIRS - MHS Instrument | https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/mirs/mhs.php | tier=operator-engineering | accessed=2026-06-11

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/products/sensor/mhs
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)