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Instrument details
Acronym
KaRIN
Full name
Ka-band Radar Interferometer
Purpose
Large-swath altimetry for inland waters (lakes) and local ocean circulation including sea state
Short description
Equipped with two parallel antennas to implement interferometry. Frequency: 35.5 GHz
Background
New development
Scanning Technique
Two parallel swaths, 60-km each, total 120 km
Resolution
Horizontal 50 m over land, 1 km over ocean; vertical 10 cm over land, 1 cm over ocean
Coverage / Cycle
Global coverage in two weeks
Mass
300 kg
Power
1100 W
Data Rate
320Mbps
Providing Agency
NASA
Instrument Maturity
Demonstration pending
Utilization Period:
≥2022 to ≥2026
Last update:
2021-08-30
Detailed characteristics
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 Active and radio-occultation sensor Radar altimeter
WIGOS Subcomponents
Subcomponent 1 Wide-swath radar altimeter Conventional radar altimeter Subcomponent 2 Interferometric radar altimeter [for wide-swath] Subcomponent 3 Wide-swath radar altimeter for vegetation mapping
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives Geoid Ocean dynamic topography Significant wave height Secondary mission objectives Coastal sea level (tide) Gravity field
Opportunity objectives Sea-ice elevation Sea-ice thickness Wind speed (near surface) Show all Show fewer
Tentative 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
Variable Relevance for measuring this variable Operational limitations Explanation
Coastal sea level (tide) 1 - primary Infrequent coverage. Single-frequency Ka-band radar altimeter with large swath for mapping
Geoid 2 - very high Infrequent coverage.. Long time series needed. Geoid derived from multi-temporal analysis of radar altimetry data
Gravity field 4 - fair Partial information (geoid). Gravity field derived from multi-temporal analysis of radar altimetry data
Ocean dynamic topography 1 - primary Infrequent coverage.. Long time for mapping. Single-frequency Ka-band radar altimeter with large swath for mapping
Sea-ice elevation 3 - high Infrequent coverage. The large swath helps measuring the elevation of the ice border over the sea level
Sea-ice thickness 3 - high Infrequent coverage.. Change detection only. The large swath helps measuring the elevation of the ice border over the sea level. Thickness inferred
Significant wave height 1 - primary Infrequent coverage. The large swath enables more frequent global coverage
Wind speed (near surface) 4 - fair Over sea only.. Infrequent coverage. Improved coverage associated to better resolution, that implies better accuracy
Ice sheet topography 3 - high Infrequent coverage.. Along-track only. Ka-band radar altimeter
Instrument: KaRIN