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MiRS Home

Instrument Descriptions
- AMSU-A
- MHS
- SSMIS
- WindSat
- AMSR-E
- AMSR-2
- SNPP ATMS
- TRMM TMI
- GPM GMI
- Megha-Tropiques MADRAS
- Megha-Tropiques SAPHIR

Algorithm

Product Monitoring

Radiometric Performance
- TB Comparison
- Radiometric Bias Monitoring

Geophysical Performance
- Geophysical Performance Monitoring
- Performance Time Series

Downloads

Please note that this website is managed by the MiRS Algorithm Development Team at NOAA/NESDIS/STAR, and content may reflect development versions of the MiRS algorithm. Retrieval products and validation metrics shown here may not align with the official operational products at the NOAA Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO), and archived at NOAA CLASS. To access operational MiRS products, refer to OSPO or CLASS. To obtain products from the development version of MiRS, visit the Download section of this site.

Data and images displayed on STAR sites are provided for experimental use only and are not official operational NOAA products. More information>>

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Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MIRS) - Objectives

Overarching Goal

The overarching objective of the Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MIRS) is to contribute to the execution of the NOAA elements in the Integrated Earth Observation System (IEOS), which is a NOAA priority (Mission Support).

Mission Goal

MIRS aims at providing timely and effective acquisition and delivery of satellite-derived information that supports requirements from the Mission goal. The integrated and generic natures of MIRS make it possible to reduce significantly the amount of time spent developing retrieval algorithms for new sensors, which in turn reduces dramatically the time needed to transition to operations.

Scientific Objectives

Scientifically, the objectives of MIRS include:

An improved temperature and moisture profiles retrieval,
the extension of the retrieved products to non-standard surfaces including sea-ice and snow-covered land,
the retrieval in all-weather conditions including cloudy and precipitating conditions and
an improved set of retrieved surface properties whose derivation is based on the retrieved emissivities instead of directly from the brightness temperatures.

Climate Studies

MIRS retrievals have also the objective to be useful for climate studies. Their independence from Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models outputs, including from the surface pressure, and the consistent treatment of all sensors using virtually the same retrieval algorithm, make the derived products indeed ideal to study the trends of several products. The MIRS web site has been designed to allow the user to monitor changes/changes in several products simultaneously and from different sensors.