Reference data and procedures for ground atmospheric radiometry for European Space Agency stations and campaigns

Reference data and procedures for ground atmospheric radiometry for European Space Agency stations and campaigns activities are designed and presented. The work aims to create a database of reference long-term simulations of atmospheric brightness temperature for monitoring radiometric accuracy and calibration and for developing retrieval algorithms to be used in the operations of European Space Agency ground-based microwave radiometers for atmospheric characterization. This network includes instruments at ESTRACK stations for space exploration missions, long-term monitoring measurements for radar altimetry and Earth Observation Ka band data downlink. All these campaigns are intended to collect long-term data of atmospheric propagation parameters which are needed for the design and operation of radio communication links at Ka, Q, V and W bands for both geostationary and non-geostationary missions. The work specifically concerned the definition of the input data and reference algorithms as well as the developing of the software procedures and the derivation of the reference dataset. Here, the theoretical framework, the designed procedures and results are presented.