WMO OSCAR | Details for Instrument AMI-SCAT

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Instrument: AMI-SCAT

Instrument details

Acronym	AMI-SCAT
Full name	Active Microwave Instrument - Scatterometer
Purpose	Sea surface wind vector. Also large-scale soil moisture
Short description	C-band (5.3 GHz), 3 side looking antennas
Background	One operating mode of AMI (Active Microwave Instrument) on ERS-1 and ERS-2
Scanning Technique	One 500-km swath starting from 200 km off-track. 3 looks each pixel (45, 90 and 135° azimuth)
Resolution	Best quality: 50 km; sampling: 25 km
Coverage / Cycle	Global coverage in 3 days average, depending on operation mode (alternative to AMI-SAR, duty cycle about 70 %)
Mass	325.8 kg	Power	4800 W	Data Rate	500 kbps

Detailed characteristics

Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

European Remote-sensing Satellite (ESA)
- ERS-1 (see instrument status) Oct 1991 - Mar 2000
- ERS-2 (see instrument status) Jul 1995 - Jul 2011

Instrument classification

WIGOS Subcomponents

Mission objectives

Primary mission objectives

Evaluation of Measurements

Variable	Relevance for measuring this variable	Operational limitations	Explanation
Wind speed (near surface)*	1 - primary	Over sea only.	C-band scatterometer around 5.3 GHz
Sea-ice type	1 - primary	No specific limitation.	Scatterometer, C-band (around 5.3 GHz). Type interpreted as age/roughness
Wind vector (near surface)*	2 - very high	Cloud sensitive.. Over sea only.. Highly indirect.	C-band scatterometer around 5.3 GHz
Biomass	3 - high	Index only.. Coarse spatial resolution.	C-band sensitive to total biomass
Leaf Area Index (LAI)	3 - high	Coarse spatial resolution.	C-band scatterometer sensitive to LAI
Snow cover	3 - high	Coarse spatial resolution.. Thick snow only.	Scatterometer in C-band (around 5.3 GHz)
Snow status (wet/dry)	3 - high	Coarse spatial resolution.. Thick snow only.	Scatterometer in C-band (around 5.3 GHz)
Soil moisture (in the roots region)	3 - high	Coarse spatial resolution.. Affected by vegetation.	Scatterometer in C-band (around 5.3 GHz). Assimilation process required
Soil moisture at surface	3 - high	Coarse spatial resolution.. Affected by vegetation.	Scatterometer in C-band (around 5.3 GHz)
Snow water equivalent	5 - marginal	Coarse spatial resolution.. Ground stations network needed.	Scatterometer in C-band (around 5.3 GHz)