WMO OSCAR | Details for Instrument OSCAT-3

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Instrument: OSCAT-3

Instrument details

Acronym	OSCAT-3
Full name	Scatterometer for Oceansat-3
Purpose	To measure sea surface wind vector
Short description	Ku-band (13.515 GHz) with a 6.25 km mode,
Background	Development from Oceansat-2 scatter-meter
Scanning Technique	Conical scanning, two beams, to provide four views of each spot from different angles; incidence angles: 48.9° and 57.6°; scan rate: 20.5 rpm; swath 1440 km
Resolution	12.5km, 25 km, or 50 km
Coverage / Cycle	Global coverage every day
Mass		Power	Data Rate

Providing Agency	ISRO
Instrument Maturity	Flown on operational programme
Utilization Period:	2023 to 2030
Last update:	2023-05-05

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

Satellite for the Ocean (ISRO)
- OceanSat-3 (EOS-06) (see instrument status) Feb 2023 - 2027
- OceanSat-3A (see instrument status) Jan 2025 - 2030

Instrument classification

Earth observation instrument
Active and radio-occultation sensor
Scatterometer

WIGOS Subcomponents

Subcomponent 1
Scatterometers [in SSO]
Scatterometer [in SSO]

Mission objectives

Primary mission objectives

Wind speed (near surface)
Wind vector (near surface)

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.

Variable	Relevance for measuring this variable	Operational limitations	Explanation
Leaf Area Index (LAI)	4 - fair	Coarse spatial resolution.	Ku-band scatterometer sensitive to LAI
Sea-ice type	1 - primary	No specific limitation.	Scatterometer, Ku-band (around 13.3 GHz). Type interpreted as age/roughness
Snow cover	3 - high	Coarse spatial resolution.. Thick snow only.	Scatterometer in Ku-band (around 13.3 GHz)
Snow status (wet/dry)	3 - high	Coarse spatial resolution.. Thick snow only.	Scatterometer in Ku-band (around 13.3 GHz)
Snow water equivalent	5 - marginal	Coarse spatial resolution.. Ground stations network needed.	Scatterometer in Ku-band (around 13.3 GHz)
Soil moisture at surface	3 - high	Coarse spatial resolution.. Strongly affected by vegetation.	Scatterometer in Ku-band (around 13.3 GHz)
Wind speed (near surface)*	1 - primary	Over sea only.	Ku-band scatterometer around 13.3 GHz
Wind vector (near surface)*	2 - very high	Over sea only.	Ku-band scatterometer around 13.3 GHz