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We introduce a new hyperspectral microwave remote sensing modality for atmospheric sounding, driven by recent advances in microwave device technology that now permit receiver arrays that can multiplex multiple broad frequency bands into more than 100 spectral channels, thus improving both the vertical and horizontal resolutions of the retrieved atmospheric profile. Global simulation studies over ocean and land in clear and cloudy atmospheres using three different atmospheric profile databases are presented that assess the temperature, moisture, and precipitation sounding capability of several notional hyperspectral systems with channels sampled near the 50-60-, 118.75-, and 183.31-GHz absorption lines. These analyses demonstrate that hyperspectral microwave operation using frequency multiplexing techniques substantially improves temperature and moisture profiling accuracy, particularly in atmospheres that challenge conventional nonhyperspectral microwave sounding systems because of high water vapor and cloud liquid water content. Retrieval performance studies are also included that compare hyperspectral microwave sounding performance to conventional microwave and hyperspectral infrared approaches, both in a geostationary and a low-Earth-orbit context, and a path forward to a new generation of high-performance all-weather sounding is discussed.

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