BackForwardInstrument:  SCAMS 

Instrument details
Acronym SCAMS
Full name Scanning Microwave Spectrometer
Purpose Nearly-all-weather temperature sounding
Short description 5-channel MW radiometer covering the 54 GHz band [see detailed characteristics below]
Background Follow-on of NEMS flown on Nimbus-5, introducing cross-track scanning
Scanning Technique Cross-track, step-and-dwell, 13 pixels/line, swath 2400 km
Resolution 145 km at s.s.p.
Coverage / Cycle Nearly-global twice/day
Mass 23.4 kg Power 46 W Data Rate 120 bps

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 1975 to 1983
Last update: 2019-11-14
Detailed characteristics

No.

Central frequency (GHz)

Bandwidth (MHz)

Polarisation

NEΔT

1

22.231

220

V

0.2 K

2

31.650

220

V

0.2 K

3

52.863

220

V

0.6 K

4

53.845

220

V

0.5 K

5

55.445

220

H

0.5 K

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 microwave radiometer
  • Cross-track, special or non-scanning microwave radiometer
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 1
  • MW sounders [in SSO]
  • MW sounder [in SSO]
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Atmospheric temperature
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
Atmospheric temperature*3 - highVery coarse vertical resolution.A few MW channels in the 54 GHz band. Nearly all-weather sounding
Freezing level height in clouds4 - fairNo specific limitation.MW channels in the 54 GHz band. Inference from the temperature profile
Melting layer depth in clouds4 - fairNo specific limitation.MW channels in the 54 GHz band. Inference from the temperature profile
Integrated Water Vapour (IWV)3 - highOver sea only.MW channel(s) in the water vapour band around 23 GHz