BackForwardInstrument:  Poseidon-3C 

Instrument details
Acronym Poseidon-3C
Full name Poseidon-3C Altimeter
Purpose Ocean topography, significant wave height, wind speed on sea surface; specific to sea-surface height
Short description Two frequencies (5.3 and 13.58 GHz)
Background Consolidated technology
Scanning Technique Nadir-only viewing, continuous sampling along track
Resolution 25 km
Coverage / Cycle Global coverage in 2 weeks for 70-km cells
Mass 70 kg Power 78 W Data Rate 22.5 kbps

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Backed by strong heritage
Utilization Period: 2023 to 2026
Last update: 2023-09-21
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
  • Conventional radar altimeter
  • Subcomponent 2
  • Magnetospheric energetic particles and magnetometers
  • Ionospheric total electron content sensor [at LEO and cross magnetosphere]
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Discharge
  • Geoid
  • Ocean dynamic topography
  • Significant wave height
  • Water level
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)2 - very highAlong-track only.Dual-frequency radar altimeter: Ku-band and supporting S-band or C-band to correct for ionospheric rotation
Geoid*2 - very highLong time series needed.. Along-track only.Geoid derived from multi-temporal analysis of radar altimetry data
Gravity field4 - fairPartial information (geoid).. Along-track only.Gravity field derived from multi-temporal analysis of radar altimetry data
Ocean dynamic topography*2 - very highLong time for mapping.. Along-track only.Dual-freqency altimeter: Ku-band and supporting S-band or C-band to correct for ionospheric rotation
Significant wave height*2 - very highAlong-track only.Ku-band radar altimeter
Wind speed (near surface)5 - marginalOver sea only.. Along-track only.Radar altimeter. Wind speed estimated from the intensity of the backscattered signals
Ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC)4 - fairAlong-track only.Dual-frequency altimeter: Ku-band and supporting S-band or C-band to correct for ionospheric rotation