BackForwardInstrument:  Poseidon-3C 

Instrument details
Acronym Poseidon-3C
Full name Poseidon-3C Altimeter
Purpose Ocean topography, significant wave height, wind speed on sea surface; specific to sea-surface height
Short description Two frequencies (5.3 and 13.58 GHz)
Background Consolidated technology
Scanning Technique Nadir-only viewing, continuous sampling along track
Resolution 25 km
Coverage / Cycle Global coverage in 2 weeks for 70-km cells
Mass 70 kg Power 78 W Data Rate 22.5 kbps

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Backed by strong heritage
Utilization Period: 2023 to 2026
Last update: 2023-09-21
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

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Active and radio-occultation sensor
  • Radar altimeter
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 1
  • Wide-swath radar altimeters, and high altitude, inclined, high-precision orbit altimeters
  • Conventional radar altimeter
  • Subcomponent 2
  • Magnetospheric energetic particles and magnetometers
  • Ionospheric total electron content sensor [at LEO and cross magnetosphere]
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Discharge
  • Geoid
  • Ocean dynamic topography
  • Significant wave height
  • Water level
Evaluation of Measurements