BackForwardInstrument:  AATSR 

Instrument details
Acronym AATSR
Full name Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer
Purpose Multi-purpose VIS/IR imagery, with emphasis on very accurate sea surface temperature for climate
Short description Two views (close-to-nadir and fore- for accurate atmospheric corrections), 7 channels, balanced VIS, NIR, SWIR, MWIR and TIR, narrow swath [see detailed characteristics below]
Background Evolution of ATSR on ERS-1 and identical to ATSR-2 on ERS-2
Scanning Technique Conical oblique (cross-nadir and 47° fore); 2000 pixel of 1 km ssp; swath 500 km; scan rate 400 rpm
Resolution 1 km IFOV
Coverage / Cycle Global coverage in 3 days (IR) or 6 days (VIS)
Mass 101 kg Power 100 W Data Rate 625 kbps

 

Providing Agency UKSA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2002 to 2012
Last update: 2022-07-26
Detailed characteristics
Central wavelength Bandwidth SNR or NEΔT @ specified input
550 nm 20 nm 20 @ 0.5 % albedo
659 nm 20 nm 20 @ 0.5 % albedo
865 nm 20 nm 20 @ 0.5 % albedo
1610 nm 300 nm 20 @ 0.5 % albedo
3.70 µm 3.55 - 3.85 µm 0.08 K @ 270 K
10.85 µm 10.35 - 11.35 µm 0.05 K @ 270 K
12.00 µm 11.50 - 12.50 µm 0.05 K @ 270 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 optical radiometer or spectrometer
  • Moderate resolution optical imager
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 1
  • IR dual-angle view imagers
  • IR dual-angle view imager
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Cloud cover
  • Cloud optical depth
  • Cloud top height
  • Cloud top temperature
  • Cloud type
  • Leaf Area Index (LAI)
  • Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
  • Sea surface temperature
  • Sea-ice cover
Evaluation of Measurements