Development of a L-Band Microwave Radiometer for Remote Sensing of Water Surface Salinity

The development processes of a L-band microwave radiometer for remote sensing of water surface salinity are described in this paper. Achieving the development aim of the measurement accuracy within 2 psu for water surface salinity of 0~40 psu, the requirements and specifications of the microwave radiometer and its receiver are drawn. The receiver with high gain, high sensitivity is designed and implemented to satisfy these requirements and specifications. The receiver has the bandwidth of 45 MHz, the system gain of 47 dB and the sensitivity of 0.41 K at 1,390 MHz. The effectiveness of the developed L-band microwave radiometer for remote sensing of water surface salinity is demonstrated experimentally. The results show the microwave radiometer can detect water surface salinity for 10~28 psu within the accuracy of 1.4 psu.