MEASUREMENTS OF THE MOON’S INFRARED (4 – 15 µm) AND MICROWAVE (1.6 –
13 mm) THERMAL RADIATION
Abstract
Meteorological research satellites on polar orbits observe occasionally
the Moon, when it moves through their deep space view. Over the last few
decades, a large data set built up, which allows to determine the lunar
flux with unprecedented accuracy especially at wavelengths, for which
the Earth’s atmosphere is opaque. We determined the disk-integrated
brightness temperature of the Moon at 19 wavelengths between 4 and 15 µm
and at five frequencies between 89 and 190 GHz for phase angles between
-80° and +70° with HIRS, AMSU-B, MHS, and ATMS on NOAA and MetOp
satellites