BackForwardInstrument:  MAP 

Instrument details
Acronym MAP
Full name Multi-Angle Polarimeter
Purpose To provide information on aerosol properties, thereby ensuring the required accuracy of the total-column CO2 retrieval
Short description VIS/NIR radiometer measuring radiance and degree of linear polarisation (DoLP) at four different viewing angles and 7 wavelengths [see details below].
Background Operating in association with a cloud imager (CLIM) in support of the Combined Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen Dioxide Imager.
Scanning Technique Pushbroom scanning by four cameras pointing at 4 different along-track angles, fore- and back-, +/- 60°. In each camera, 12 cross-track oriented detectors provide a swath larger with increasing viewing angle. Heavy oversampling as the satellite moves enables binning a high number of pixels for a resolution of about 1 km x 1 km.
Resolution 1 km (after re-sampling)
Coverage / Cycle Near-global coverage in 10 days.
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency ESA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2026 to 2036
Last update: 2022-01-04
Detailed characteristics

The instrument is comprised of four identical cameras with 12 fields-of-views each, defined by the detector pixels imaged onto the ground scene in different directions. In each viewing direction spectral radiance is measured in seven wavelength windows and three polarisations angles.

Channel number Wavelength nm Bandwidth nm Polarisation axes
MAP-1 410 20 3
MAP-2 443 20 3
MAP-3 490 20 3
MAP-4 555 20 3
MAP-5 670 20 3
MAP-6 753 9 1
MAP-7 865 40 3
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

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Passive optical radiometer or spectrometer
  • Moderate resolution optical imager
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 2
  • Multi-angle, multi-polarization radiometers
  • Multi-angle, multi-polarization radiometer
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Aerosol Optical Depth
  • Aerosol column burden
  • Aerosol effective radius
  • Aerosol mass mixing ratio
  • Aerosol type
  • Aerosol volcanic ash
  • Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Aerosol column burden*3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol
Aerosol effective radius*3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol
Aerosol mass mixing ratio*3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol
Aerosol Optical Depth*3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol
Aerosol type*3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol
Biomass5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI
Cloud cover5 - marginalDaylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Cloud optical depth4 - fairLow-density cloud only.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Cloud top height5 - marginalDaylight only.NIR channels to estimate the total-column O2 above the cloud top as measured around 760 nm
Cloud type5 - marginalDaylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Colour Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM)5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.A few narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for a few water types, mainly in open ocean
Downward short-wave irradiance at Earth surface5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Highly indirect.VIS and NIR channels
Earth surface albedo5 - marginalCloud sensitive.VIS channels
Fire fractional cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Coarse spatial resolution.. Daylight only.VIS channels
Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)4 - fairCloud sensitive.VIS channels including Red at 700 nm
Leaf Area Index (LAI)4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels. LAI inferred from NDVI
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)3 - highCloud sensitive.VIS and NIR channels
Ocean chlorophyll concentration 5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.A few narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for a few water types, mainly in open ocean
Ocean Diffuse Attenuation Coefficient (DAC)5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.A few narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for a few water types, mainly in open ocean
Ocean suspended sediments concentration5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.A few narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for a few water types, mainly in open ocean
Oil spill cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS channels with narrow bandwidth
Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)4 - fairCloud sensitive.VIS channels, range undersampled
Short-wave cloud reflectance5 - marginalNo specific limitation.VIS and NIR channels
Snow cover4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Soil moisture at surface5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels. Soil moisture inferred from differential brightness
Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA5 - marginalSpectral interpolation needed.. Information on BRDF needed.VIS and NIR channels
Aerosol volcanic ash*3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level ashes
Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column*3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level ashes
Sea-ice cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR (for contour enhancement) channels