BackForwardInstrument:  SAGE-III 

Instrument details
Acronym SAGE-III
Full name Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment - III
Purpose Atmospheric chemistry in the stratosphere. Species: H2O, NO2, NO3, O3, OClO and aerosol
Short description UV/VIS/NIR/SWIR (280-1040 nm) 9-band solar and lunar occultation grating spectrometer. Spectral resolution from 1 to 2 nm. 87 channels.
Background Follow-on of SAGE-II flown on ERBS
Scanning Technique Sun and moon tracking during the occultation phase, 1-km step from ~ 10 to ~ 85 km
Resolution 300 km (horizontal), 1-2 km (vertical)
Coverage / Cycle N/A (few tens of events/day limited to latitudes above ~ 70° (Meteor-3M). For ISS global coverage at latitudes <70 deg in 1 month.
Mass 76 kg Power 80 W Data Rate 115 kbps

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Backed by strong heritage
Utilization Period: 2002 to 2026
Last update: 2022-02-23
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
  • Limb sounders
  • Limb sounder
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 1
  • UV/VIS/NIR sounders, nadir and limb
  • UV/VIS/NIR occultation limb sounder
  • Subcomponent 2
  • UV/VIS/NIR/IR/MW limb sounders
  • UV/VIS/NIR/IR occultation limb sounder
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • BrO
  • ClO
  • H2O
  • HCHO
  • NO
  • NO2
  • O3
  • SO2
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 mass mixing ratio5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.. Limited to high latitudes.. Daylight only.UV, NIR, SWIR limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
BrO*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.UV spectrometry. BrO lines around 300 nm. Limb sounding by solar occultation.. Self-calibrating
HCHO*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.UV spectrometry. HCHO lines around 350 nm Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
ClO*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.UV spectrometry. ClO lines around 300 nm. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
NO*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.UV spectrometry. NO lines around 250 nm. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
NO2*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.UV and VIS spectrometry. Several lines in the ranges around 220 nm and 400 nm. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
O3*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.UV and VIS spectrometry. Ozone lines in the bands around 260 nm (Hartley) and/or 340 nm (Huggins) and 600 nm (Chappuis). Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
PSC occurrence5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.UV and VIS spectrometry. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
SO2*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.UV spectrometry. SO2 lines around 350 nm. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
H2O*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.Spectrometry in UV and VIS (weak bands), and NIR and SWIR (strong bands around 940 and 1380 nm). Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
Specific humidity5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.UV, VIS, NIR and SWIR spectrometry with several water vapour bands (main: around 940 and 1380 nm nm). Limb sounding by solar occultation, Self-calibrating
Aerosol volcanic ash5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.UV, NIR and SWIR spectrometry; limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
Atmospheric temperature5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.VIS spectroscopy at lower resolution 10 nm