BackForwardInstrument:  KaRIN 

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 altimeters, and high altitude, inclined, high-precision orbit altimeters
  • Wide-swath radar altimeter
  • Conventional radar altimeter
  • Subcomponent 2
  • Interferometric radar altimetry
  • Interferometric radar altimeter [for wide-swath]
  • Subcomponent 3
  • Radar and lidar for vegetation mapping
  • Wide-swath radar altimeter for vegetation mapping
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Geoid
  • Ocean dynamic topography
  • Significant wave height
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
Coastal sea level (tide)1 - primaryInfrequent coverage.Single-frequency Ka-band radar altimeter with large swath for mapping
Geoid*2 - very highInfrequent coverage.. Long time series needed.Geoid derived from multi-temporal analysis of radar altimetry data
Gravity field4 - fairPartial information (geoid).Gravity field derived from multi-temporal analysis of radar altimetry data
Ocean dynamic topography*1 - primaryInfrequent coverage.. Long time for mapping.Single-frequency Ka-band radar altimeter with large swath for mapping
Significant wave height*1 - primaryInfrequent coverage.The large swath enables more frequent global coverage
Wind speed (near surface)4 - fairOver sea only.. Infrequent coverage.Improved coverage associated to better resolution, that implies better accuracy
Ice sheet topography3 - highAlong-track only.. Infrequent coverage.Ka-band radar altimeter
Sea-ice elevation3 - highInfrequent coverage.The large swath helps measuring the elevation of the ice border over the sea level
Sea-ice thickness3 - highInfrequent coverage.. Change detection only.The large swath helps measuring the elevation of the ice border over the sea level. Thickness inferred