| CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS
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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 | |
COWVR
Compact Ocean Wind Vector Radiometer | Operational
| Hosted on the ISS, COWVR measures the direction and speed of winds at the ocean surface | Multi-purpose imaging MW radiometer | |
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 (Oceansat-3)
Scatterometer (Oceansat-3) | Operational
| Ocean surface wind measurements, continuity to ocean vector wind | Radar scatterometer | |
WindRAD
Wind Radar | Operational
| Measures sea-surface wind. | Radar scatterometer | |
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 | |
Advanced Scatterometer
Advanced Scatterometer | Proposed
| Ocean surface wind measurements. | Radar scatterometer | |
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* Description adapted from WMO.
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