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CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS
Measurements
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Gravity and Magnetic Fields
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Gravity, Magnetic and Geodynamic measurements
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Total electron content (TEC)
Measurement Definition*: Number of electrons in between two points. Observed under more viewing angles so as to generate profiles by tomography - Physical unit: [ electrons/m2 ]; practical unit: TECU = 1016 electrons/m2 - Accuracy unit: [ % ].
Instrument
Status/
Accuracy
Instrument Description
Measurement Technology
Timeline
m-NLP
multi-Needle Langmuir Probe
Operational
m-NLP measures the plasma around the Earth at a higher resolution than other Langmuir probe instruments that have been flown in space.
n/a
RF Beacon
Radio Frequency Beacon
Operational
Transmitter that enables ground-based measurement of ionospheric scintillation and ionospheric total electron content (TEC). Critical to understanding the impacts of space weather on satellite communication systems and GPS.
n/a
SSULI
Special Sensor Ultraviolet Limb Imager
Operational
Measures vertical profiles of the natural airglow radiation from atoms, molecules and ions in the upper atmosphere and ionosphere.
n/a
SWS/SEM/HEPD
Space Weather Suite / Space Environment Monitor/ High Energy Particle Detector
Operational
Energetic particle spectrometer: Spectrometer for electrons (0.25-2.0 MeV), protons (6.4-38 MeV) and alpha-particles (15-60 MeV)
n/a
SWS/SEM/IMS
Space Weather Suite / Space Environment Monitor / Ionosphere Measurement Sensor
Operational
To measure ionospheric electron temperature and density, and platform charge and dose. Specially arranged Langmuir Probe for electron temperature (0-1 eV) and density in the 10- 10^6 e/cm3 range
n/a
TGRS
TriG (Tri-GNSS) GNSS Radio-occultation System
Operational
TGRS is the radio occultation receiver, which will receive signals from GPS, Galileo, and Glonass.
GNSS radio-occultation receiver
* Description adapted from WMO.