The Microwave Temperature Profiler, or MTP is a passive microwave radiometer, which measures the natural thermal emission from oxygen molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere to determine changes in air temperature. MTP Principal Investigator Michael Mahoney with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory describes how the instrument was used on a Global Hawk aircraft to support NASA’s Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment, or ATTREX mission. MTP can measure a complete temperature profile from the in situ position of the aircraft to high above it. Cold temperatures in the tropopause can throttle the movement of greenhouse gases into the stratosphere, so ATTREX researchers need these profiles to better understand how this transmission occurs.
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NASA ID
ARC-20151207-AAV3513-Looking-for-Coldest-Spots-in-the-Sky
Date Created
December 7, 2015
Center
ARC
Media Type
video
Location
Guam
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