Study of M-estimator Variational Retrieval Using Simulated Feng Yun-3A Data

This paper adopts satellite channel brightness temperature simulation to study M-estimator variational retrieval. This approach combines both the advantages of classical variational inversion and robust M-estimators. Classical variational inversion depends on prior quality control to elim- inate outliers, and its errors follow a Gaussian distribution. We coupled the M-estimators to the framework of classical variational inversion to obtain a M-estimator variational inversion. The cost function contains the M-estimator to guarantee the robustness to outliers and improve the retrieval re- sults. The experimental evaluation adopts Feng Yun-3A （FY-3A） simulated data to add to the Gaussian and Non-Gaussian error. The variational in- version is used to obtain the inversion brightness temperature, and temperature and humidity data are used for validation. The preliminary results demonstrate the potential of M-estimator variational retrieval.