What is AMSU?

AMSU stands for Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit. It is derived from the Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) which began service in 1978 on TIROS-N and continued on the NOAA 6 through 14 satellites. AMSU flies on the NOAA KLM and N satellites as well as NASA's Aqua:

Satellite	Launch Date
NOAA 15	13 May 1998
NOAA 16	21 Sep 2000
Aqua	04 May 2002
NOAA 17	24 Jun 2002
NOAA 18	20 May 2005

AMSU is a considerable advance over MSU.

20 channels versus 4 channels on MSU.
Weighting functions better sample the atmosphere.
48 or 16 km resolution versus MSU's 110 km
Designed to measure many atmospheric and surface parameters, not just temperature. (View the microwave spectrum.)

For much more information, see the NOAA KLM User's Guide.

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