Millimeter Lunar Microwave Radiance: Model Simulation and Satellite Observations

As a potential external calibration reference for spaceborne microwave sounding instruments, accurate and reliable information of lunar disk-averaged radiance at millimeter band are important and fundamental. Based on study for 2-D lunar scans of the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder(ATMS) on board the NOAA-20 satellite, the lunar radiance spectrum from 23 to 183 GHz at full moon phase has been reported in our previous work. In this study, based on radiative transfer model simulations, lunar microwave radiation at millimeter band was computed and compared with the ATMS observations. Significant improvement in the accuracy of the moon as a calibration standard at mm wavelengths could be made by using highly accurate satellite observations to reduce the uncertainties in the lunar electrical property model.