THE CEOS DATABASE : MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS

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CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS

Measurements > Ocean >
Ocean surface winds >
Wind vector over sea surface (horizontal)

Measurement Definition*: The wind vector represents the motion of the airmass over the ground. It is described by wind speed and the inverse of wind direction. Conventionally measured at 10 m height. For expected performances and in case the measurement is made at a different height or in case it is corrected to 10m, indicate in the comments the exact height of the instrument as well as whether correction to 10 m has been applied. Accuracy is the modulus of the vector difference between measured and true vectors. [Unit of measurement - m/s]

Instrument	Status/ Accuracy	Instrument Description	Measurement Technology	Timeline
AGRI Advanced Geosynchronous Radiation Imager	Operational	A multiple channel radiation imager, one of the primary instruments aboard FY-4. Technically featured by a precisely designed two-mirror structure, capable of accurate and flexible sensing in two dimensions, and minute-level fast sector scanning. Frequent Earth imaging over 14 bands with off-axis three reflections of the primary optic system. On-board black body available for IR calibrations at very short time intervals.	n/a
C-Band SAR C-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar	Operational	Marine core services, land monitoring and emergency services. Monitoring sea ice zones and arctic environment. Surveillance of marine environment, monitoring land surface motion risks, mapping of land surfaces (forest, water and soil, agriculture), mapping in support of humanitarian aid in crisis situations.	n/a
PALSAR-2 Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar-2	Operational	Disaster monitoring, land monitoring, agricultural monitoring, natural resource exploration, global forest monitoring, potential use and interferometry.	n/a
SAR-L L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar	Operational	Land, ocean, emergencies, soil moisture, interferometry, others.	n/a
SCAT Wind SCATerometer	Operational	Ocean surface wind vector	Radar scatterometer
Scatterometer (Scatsat-1) Scatterometer (Scatsat-1)	Operational	Ocean surface wind measurements.	Radar scatterometer
WindRAD Wind Radar	Operational	Measures sea-surface wind.	Radar scatterometer
WindSat WindSat	Operational	Demonstration of sea surface wind vector observation by polarimetric passive radiometry	Multi-purpose imaging MW radiometer
PALSAR-3 Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar-3	Being developed	Disaster monitoring, land monitoring, agricultural monitoring, natural resource exploration, global forest monitoring, potential use and interferometry.	n/a
SCA SCA	Being developed	Measures wind speed and direction over ocean, soil moisture, sea ice cover, sea ice type, snow cover and snow parameters and vegetation parameters	Radar scatterometer
Scatterometer (Oceansat-3) Scatterometer (Oceansat-3)	Being developed	Ocean surface wind measurements, continuity to ocean vector wind	Radar scatterometer
Advanced Scatterometer Advanced Scatterometer	Proposed	Ocean surface wind measurements.	Radar scatterometer
Scatterometer (Oceansat-2) Scatterometer (Oceansat-2)	No longer operational	Ocean surface wind measurements. Instrument failed in February 2014.	Radar scatterometer

* Description adapted from WMO.


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