BackForwardInstrument:  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 2024
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

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.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
CO2 mole fraction*4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry. CO2 lines around 4.3 and 15 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
C2H2*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.TIR spectrometry. C2H2 lines around 7.5 and 13.7 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
C2H6*5 - marginalLimited 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 - marginalLimited 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 - marginalLimited 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 - marginalLimited 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 - marginalLimited 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 - marginalLimited 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 - marginalLimited 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 - marginalLimited 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 - marginalLimited 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 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry. N2O5 lines around 5.8 and 8 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
PAN*5 - marginalLimited 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 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.TIR spectrometry. SF6 lines around 10.5 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
Specific humidity5 - marginalLimited 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 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR/TIR spectrometry in a range centred on 6.3 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
NO*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR spectrometry. NO lines around 5.3 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
NO2*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.TIR spectrometry. NO2 lines around 6.1 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
O3*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.TIR spectrometry. Ozone band around 9.7 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
PSC occurrence5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry. Limb sounding by solar occultations. Self-calibrating
SO2*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.TIR spectrometry. SO2 lines around 7.3 and 8.6 micrometers. Limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating
Atmospheric temperature5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR, TIR limb sounding by solar occultation. Self-calibrating