Design and field-of-view calibration of 114-660-GHz optics of the Earth observing system microwave limb sounder

This paper describes the optics design and field-of-view (FOV) calibration for five radiometers covering 114-660 GHz which share a common antenna in the Microwave Limb Sounder instrument on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Aura satellite. Details of near-field pattern measurements are presented. Estimated systematic scaling uncertainties (3/spl sigma/) on calibrated limb emissions, due to FOV calibration uncertainties, are below 0.4%. 3/spl sigma/ uncertainties in beamwidth and relative pointing of radiometer boresights are 0.006/spl deg/ and 0.003/spl deg/, respectively. The uncertainty in modeled instrument response, due to the scan dependence of FOV patterns, is less than /spl plusmn/0.24 K equivalent black-body temperature. Refinements to the calibration using in-flight data are presented.