WMO OSCAR | Details for Instrument ACE-FTS

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Instrument: ACE-FTS

Instrument details

Acronym	ACE-FTS
Full name	Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment - Fourier Transform Spectrometer
Purpose	Atmospheric chemistry at high latitudes and high altitude. Tracked species: CFC-11, CFC-12, CH4, ClONO2, CO, H2O, HCl, HF, HNO3, N2O, N2O5, NO, NO2 and O3
Short description	Two-bands interferometer, spectral range: SWIR/MWIR/TIR, sun occultation [see detailed characteristics below]
Background	New development
Scanning Technique	Sun occultation. About 30 occultations/day
Resolution	Vertical: 1-2 km - Horizontal: effective 500 km (limb sounding)
Coverage / Cycle	N/A because of the occultation geometry. Only occurring at high latitudes
Mass	41 kg	Power	37 W	Data Rate

Providing Agency	CSA
Instrument Maturity	Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period:	2003 to 2025
Last update:	2021-08-30

Detailed characteristics

Spectral range	No. of channels	Spectral resolution	SNR @ expected input spectral radiance
2.0 - 5.5 µm	160,000	0.02 cm^-1	1000 @ ......... W m^-2 sr^-1 µm^-1
5.5 - 13 µm	50,000	0.02 cm^-1	1000 @ ......... W m^-2 sr^-1 µm^-1

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

Science Satellite / Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (CSA)
- SCISAT-1 (see instrument status) Nov 2003 - 2025

Instrument classification

Earth observation instrument
Limb sounders
Limb sounder

WIGOS Subcomponents

Subcomponent 2
UV/VIS/NIR/IR/MW limb sounders
UV/VIS/NIR/IR occultation limb sounder

Mission objectives

Primary mission objectives

C2H2
C2H6
CFC-11
CFC-12
CH4 mole fraction
CO
CO2 mole fraction
COS
ClONO2
H2O
HNO3
N2O mole fraction
N2O5
NO
NO2
O3
PAN
SF6
SO2

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.

Search:

Variable	Relevance for measuring this variable	Operational limitations	Explanation
CO2 mole fraction*	4 - fair	Limited to high atmosphere.	MWIR and TIR spectrometry. CO2 lines around 4.3 and 15 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
C2H2*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	TIR spectrometry. C2H2 lines around 7.5 and 13.7 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
C2H6*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	MWIR and TIR spectrometry. C2H6 lines around 3.3 and 12 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
CFC-11*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	TIR spectrometry. CFC-11 lines around 9.2 and 11.7 micrometers Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
CFC-12*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	TIR spectrometry. CFC-12 lines around 8.8 and 10.8 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
CH4 mole fraction*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	SWIR, MWIR and TIR spectrometry. CH4 lines around 2.3, 4.3 and 7.7 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
ClONO2*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	MWIR and TIR spectrometry. ClONO2 lines around 5.7, 7.7 and 12.5 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
CO*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	SWIR and MWIR spectrometry. CO lines around 2.3 and 4.6 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
COS*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	MWIR and TIR spectrometry. COS lines around 4.8 and 11.6 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
HNO3*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	MWIR and TIR spectrometry. HNO3 lines around 5.9, 7.6 and 11.3 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
N2O mole fraction*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	SWIR, MWIR and TIR spectrometry. N2O lines around 2.3, 4.5 and 7.7 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
N2O5*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	MWIR and TIR spectrometry. N2O5 lines around 5.8 and 8 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
PAN*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	MWIR and TIR spectrometry. PAN lines around 5.7, 8.6 and 12.5 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
SF6*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	TIR spectrometry. SF6 lines around 10.5 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
Specific humidity	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	MWIR and TIR spectrometry in the water vapour band around 6.3 micrometers Limb sounding by solar occultation, Self-calibrating
H2O*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	MWIR/TIR spectrometry in a range centred on 6.3 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
NO*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	MWIR spectrometry. NO lines around 5.3 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
NO2*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	TIR spectrometry. NO2 lines around 6.1 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
O3*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	TIR spectrometry. Ozone band around 9.7 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
PSC occurrence	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	MWIR and TIR spectrometry. Limb sounding by solar occultations. Self-calibrating
SO2*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	TIR spectrometry. SO2 lines around 7.3 and 8.6 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
Atmospheric temperature	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.	MWIR, TIR limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating

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