# MWHS Microwave Humidity Sounder
*sensor . products*

MWHS is a cross-track passive microwave humidity sounder flown on Fengyun-3 meteorological satellites.

## Specifications
- **manufacturer**: nssc-cas
- **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**: 2026-06-12
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: nssc-cas
- **attributes**: {"kind":"sensor","manufacturer":"nssc-cas","description":"MWHS is a cross-track passive microwave humidity sounder flown on Fengyun-3 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
MWHS (Microwave Humidity Sounder) is a cross-track passive microwave radiometer series developed by China's National Satellite Meteorological Center (NSMC) for atmospheric humidity profiling on Fengyun-3 meteorological satellites.[^oscar-mwhs-1][^oscar-mwhs-2] The entry covers two generations that differ substantially in channel configuration.

MWHS-1 flew on FY-3A (launched 2008) and FY-3B (launched 2010). It carries five channels in the 150 GHz and 183.31 GHz bands, providing tropospheric humidity profiles comparable to contemporaneous sounders such as AMSU-B and MHS.[^oscar-mwhs-1][^ieee-mwhs-fy3a-cal]

MWHS-2 flew on FY-3C (launched 2013) and subsequent Fengyun-3 satellites including FY-3D, FY-3E, and FY-3F. It carries 15 channels, adding an oxygen absorption band near 118.75 GHz to 150 GHz and 183.31 GHz humidity channels on FY-3C and FY-3D, enabling combined temperature and humidity profiling in a single instrument.[^oscar-mwhs-2] WMO OSCAR maintains separate instrument records for MWHS-1 and MWHS-2.[^oscar-mwhs-1][^oscar-mwhs-2]

## Compositional position
- fy-3 (missions) --[mission_payloads]--> MWHS Microwave Humidity Sounder

## Sources
- [oscar-mwhs-1] | WMO OSCAR - Details for Instrument MWHS-1 | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/instruments/view/mwhs_1 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-11
- [oscar-mwhs-2] | WMO OSCAR - Details for Instrument MWHS-2 | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/instruments/view/mwhs_2 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-11
- [ieee-mwhs-fy3a-cal] | Calibration Analyses for Sounding Channels of MWHS Onboard FY-3A (IEEE Xplore) | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6327655/ | tier=peer-reviewed | accessed=2026-06-11

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/products/sensor/mwhs-microwave-humidity-sounder
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