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Instrument

CoSSIR
Conical Scanning Submillimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer

The Conical Scanning Submillimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSSIR) is a passive remote imaging radiometer. It has been flown on multiple aircraft since its development, including NASA’s ER-2 aircraft. CoSSIR was designed to take measurements of ice clouds and brightness temperatures. Its measurements can also be used to estimate water vapor profiles and snowfall rates. CoSSIR has a surface footprint of 1.4 km at nadir. It completes a scan cycle every 4.6 seconds. CoSSIR has 12 channels and operates in the 183-874 GHz range.

Image of the Conical Scanning Submillimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer
NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory passes Antarctica's tallest peak, Mount Vinson, on Oct. 22, 2012, during a flight over the continent to measure changes in the massive ice sheet and sea ice. Credit: NASA/Michael Studinger (Photography courtesy NASA Images)

Instrument Details

Spectrometer/Radiometer
Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor > Water Vapor Profiles
Earth Science > Spectral/engineering > Microwave > Brightness Temperature
Earth Science > Atmosphere > Clouds > Tropospheric/high-level Clouds (observed/analyzed) > Cirrus/systems > Cirrus Cloud Systems
Full Column Profile, Troposphere
4.6 s
1.4 km
183-874 GHz
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268289127_THE_DEVELOPMENT_OF_AIRBORNE_COSSIR_FOR_ICE_CLOUD_MEASUREMENTSExternal Link
  • Carey Johnson

  • James R. Wang

  • GSFC

  • NASA SBIR, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Director’s Discretionary Fund, NASA Radiation Sciences Program

  • Currently unavailable

ALOFT

Airborne Lightning Observatory for FEGS and TGFs

2023
Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Central America, Caribbean Sea
view all deployment dates
1 Deployment
· 0 Data Products