WMO OSCAR | Details for Instrument AMI-SAR

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Instrument: AMI-SAR

Instrument details

Acronym	AMI-SAR
Full name	Active Microwave Instrument - Synthetic Aperture Antenna
Purpose	High-resolution all-weather multi-purpose imager for ocean, land and ice. Also wave spectra.
Short description	C-band SAR, frequency 5.3 GHz, polarisation VV. Transmitter-receiver shared with scatterometer /AMI-Scat). Wave spectra achieved by processing SAR imagettes within the SAR swath. The AMI wave mode can be operated at the same time as the AMI-Scat mode [see detailed characteristics below]
Background	One operating mode of AMI (Active Microwave Instrument) flown on ERS-1 and ERS-2
Scanning Technique	Side-looking, 23° off-nadir, swath 100 km
Resolution	30 m
Coverage / Cycle	Imagery: global coverage in 9 months average, depending on operation mode (duty cycle 12 %). Wave: global coverage in 1.5 months (duty cycle 70 %)
Mass	325.8 kg	Power	4800 W	Data Rate	105 Mbps

Providing Agency	ESA
Instrument Maturity	Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period:	1991 to 2011
Last update:	2012-09-05

Detailed characteristics

Operation mode	Resolution	Swath	Field of regard	Polarisation
Imaging	30 m	100 km	100 km	VV
Scatterometer (see AMI-Scat)
Wave	30 m	5 x 5 km² imagettes sampled at 200-300 km intervals		VV

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

European Remote-sensing Satellite (ESA)
- ERS-1 (see instrument status) Oct 1991 - Mar 2000
- ERS-2 (see instrument status) Jul 1995 - Jul 2011

Instrument classification

Earth observation instrument
Active and radio-occultation sensor
Imaging radar (SAR)

WIGOS Subcomponents

Subcomponent 1
SAR imagers and altimeters
SAR imager

Mission objectives

Primary mission objectives

Glacier cover
Glacier motion
Glacier topography
Ice sheet topography
Land surface topography
Sea-ice cover
Sea-ice type

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
Oil spill cover	1 - primary	Infrequent coverage.	C-band SAR
Sea-ice cover*	1 - primary	No specific limitation.	C-band SAR
Glacier cover*	2 - very high	Long time for mapping.	C-band SAR for accurate boundary detection
Sea-ice type*	2 - very high	No specific limitation.	C-band SAR. Type interpreted as age/roughness
Biomass	3 - high	Index only.. Infrequent coverage.	C-band sensitive to total biomass
Dominant wave direction	3 - high	Infrequent coverage.	C-band SAR. Variable measured by spectral analysis of "imagettes"
Dominant wave period	3 - high	Infrequent coverage.	C-band SAR. Variable measured by spectral analysis of "imagettes"
Fire fractional cover	3 - high	Infrequent coverage.	C-band SAR. High resolution, for fire boundary detection
Glacier motion*	3 - high	Infrequent coverage.	C-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Glacier topography*	3 - high	Long time for mapping.	C-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Ice sheet topography*	3 - high	Long time for mapping.	C-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Land surface topography*	3 - high	Long time for mapping.	C-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Snow cover	3 - high	Thick snow only.. Infrequent coverage.	C-band SAR
Snow water equivalent	3 - high	Change detection only.. Infrequent coverage.	C-band SAR. SWE is retrieved by grigging with data from ground networks
Soil moisture at surface	3 - high	Affected by vegetation.. Infrequent coverage.	C-band SAR
Wave directional energy frequency spectrum	3 - high	Infrequent coverage.	C-band SAR. Variable measured by spectral analysis of "imagettes"
Fraction of vegetated land	4 - fair	No specific limitation.	C-band SAR
Land cover	4 - fair	No specific limitation.	C-band SAR
Significant wave height	4 - fair	Highly indirect.. Infrequent coverage.	C-band SAR. Retrieved by spectral analysis of "imagettes". Boundary condition necessary for the retrieval
Soil type	4 - fair	No specific limitation.	C-band SAR
Sea-ice elevation	4 - fair	No specific limitation.	C-band SAR. Sea ice elevation measured by interferometry
Sea-ice thickness	4 - fair	Change detection only.	C-band SAR. Sea ice elevation measured by interferometry. Thickness inferred by ice model
Snow status (wet/dry)	5 - marginal	Thick snow only.. Infrequent coverage.	C-band SAR
Soil moisture (in the roots region)	5 - marginal	Affected by vegetation.. Infrequent coverage.	C-band SAR. Assimilation process required
Vegetation type	5 - marginal	No specific limitation.	C-band SAR

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