HIRAD Brightness Temperature Image Geolocation Validation

The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) is an airborne microwave radiometer developed to provide wide-swath hurricane surface wind speed and rain rate imagery for scientific research. This letter presents a geometric evaluation of the brightness temperature (Tb) images produced by HIRAD for high-contrast land/water targets. Methodologies used to validate geolocation accuracy and spatial resolution are discussed, and results are presented to provide quantitative pixel geolocation accuracy and the effective image spatial resolution of the Tb image.