H
Selected Acronyms and Abbreviations
For the reader’s convenience, following is an alphabetical list of selected acronyms and abbreviations used in this handbook.
| AGN | active galactic nuclei |
| ALMA | Atacama Large Millimeter Array |
| AMSU | Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit |
| AMT | aeronautical mobile telemetry |
| ATMS | Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder |
| BAO | baryonic acoustic oscillation |
| CCIR | International Radio Consultative Committee (antecedent of the ITU-R) |
| CIWP | cloud ice water path |
| CMB | cosmic microwave background radiation |
| COBE | Cosmic Background Explorer |
| CORF | Committee on Radio Frequencies |
| COSPAR | Committee on Space Research |
| CSIRO | Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation |
| CyGNSS | Cyclone GNSS |
| DMSP | Defense Meteorological Satellite Program |
| DOD | Department of Defense |
| EESS | Earth Exploration-Satellite Service |
| EoR | Epoch of Reionization |
| EOS | Earth Observing System |
| ERS | Earth Remote Sensing Satellite |
| ESA | European Space Agency |
| FARS | Frequency Allocations in Remote Sensing |
| FCC | Federal Communications Commission |
| FS | Fixed Service (point-to-point transmissions, such as radio relay towers) |
| GBT | Green Bank Telescope |
| GEO | geostationary orbit (satellite) |
| GEOSS | Global Earth Observation System of Systems |
| GLONASS | Global Navigation Satellite System |
| GMI | GPM Microwave Imager |
| GNSS | Global Navigation Satellite System |
| GOES | Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites |
| GPM | Global Precipitation Mission |
| GPS | Global Positioning System |
| GSO | geostationary orbit |
| GWR | gravitational wave radiation |
| IAU | International Astronomical Union |
| ICSU | International Council of Scientific Unions |
| IGS | International Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) |
| InSAR | interferometric synthetic aperture radar |
| IRAC | Inter-department Radio Advisory Committee |
| ISM | industrial, scientific, and medical (bands in which radio-frequency-noisy systems can be operated) |
| ITAC | International Telecommunication Advisory Committee |
| ITU | International Telecommunication Union |
| ITU-R | ITU Radiocommunication Sector |
| IUCAF | Scientific Committee on Frequency Allocations for Radio Astronomy and Space Science |
| JPSS | Joint Polar Satellite System |
| LEO | low Earth orbit |
| LWA | Long Wavelength Array |
| MetAids | Meteorological Aids Service (radiosondes, etc.) |
| MetSat | Meteorological Satellite Service |
| MF | medium frequency |
| MLS | Microwave Limb Sounder |
| MLT | Mesosphere/Lower Thermosphere |
| MR | meteor radar |
| MS | Mobile Service |
| MSU | Microwave Sounding Unit |
| NAIC | National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| NOAA | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
| NRAO | National Radio Astronomy Observatory |
| NSF | National Science Foundation |
| NTIA | National Telecommunications and Information Administration |
| OH | hydroxyl |
| OOBE | out-of-band emissions |
| OSTM | Ocean Surface Topography Mission |
| pfd | power flux density (usually measured in W m–2) |
| RAS | Radio Astronomy Service |
| RF | radio frequency |
| RFI | radio frequency interference |
| RLS | Radiolocation Service (radars) |
| RSS | radio star scintillation |
| SAR | synthetic aperture radar |
| SED | spectral energy distribution |
| SETI | search for extraterrestrial intelligence |
| SG | study group |
| SM | soil moisture |
| SMAP | Soil Moisture Active/Passive |
| SMBH | supermassive black hole |
| SMOS | Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity |
| SOS | Space Operations Service |
| spfd | spectral power flux density (measured in W m–2 Hz–1) |
| SRS | Space Research Service |
| SRT | Small Radio Telescope |
| SRTM | Shuttle Radar Topographic Mapper |
| SSM/I | Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) |
| SSM/T | Special Sensor Microwave/Temperature (of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) |
| SZ | Sunyaev-Zel’dovich |
| TDRSS | Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System |
| TEC | total electron content |
| TPW | total precipitable water |
| TRMM | Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission |
| UNESCO | United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization |
| URSI | International Union of Radio Science |
| VLA | Very Large Array |
| VLBA | Very Long Baseline Array |
| VLBI | very long baseline interferometry |
| WARC | World Administrative Radio Conference (antecedent of WRC) |
| WMAP | Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe |
| WRC | World Radiocommunication Conference |
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