MHS mechanical view

The Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) is a new five-channel microwave sounder being developed by EUMETSAT for flight on Metop and future NOAA satellites. Several flight models are being procured from Matra Marconi Space, UK, for flight in the early years of the next century on NOAA-N and -N' and on Metop-1,-2,-3. It is similar in specification to the AMSU-B instrument developed by the UK Meteorological office for flight on NOAA-K, -L, and -M from 1998.

MHS is intended primarily for the measurement of atmospheric humidity. It will also be sensitive to liquid water in clouds, so will be used to measure cloud liquid water content. Furthermore, it will provide qualitative estimates of precipitation rate.