Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU)
The AMSU is a passive scanning microwave radiometer consisting of two sensor units, A1 and A2, with a total of 15 discrete channels operating over the frequency range of 50 to 89 GHZ. The AMSU operates in conjunction with the AIRS and HSB instruments to provide atmospheric temperature and water vapor data both in cloudy and cloud-free areas. AMSU is being developed by Aerojet under a contract from NASA GSFC. See AMSU instrument at http://www.aerojet.com/Weapon_Systems/Earth_Sensing/AMSU/ and at http://orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/crad/st/amsuclimate/amsu.html for further details.

Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS (AMSR-E)
The AMSR-E is a passive forward-looking scanning microwave radiometer with 6 discrete frequencies in the range of 6.9 to 89 GHZ. AMSR-E is being developed by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation under a contract from National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). The AMSR-E data will be used to provide precipitation rate, water vapor content, and surface moisture content. See AMSR-E instrument at http://www.ghcc.msfc.nasa.gov for further details.

Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES)
The CERES instrument is a broadband scanning radiometer, with three detector channels, 0.3 to 5.0 micrometers, 8.0 to 12.0 micrometers and 0.3 to 50 micrometers. Two CERES instruments are in the Aqua payload suite. One instrument operates in the crosstrack mode for complete spatial coverage from limb to limb; the other with a rotating scan plane (biaxial) mode to provide angular sampling. Both instruments are capable of operating in either mode. CERES is being developed by TRW under a contract from NASA LaRC. See CERES instrument at http://asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/ceres/ASDceres.html for further details.