BackForwardInstrument:  POSP 

Instrument details
Acronym POSP
Full name Particulate Observing Scanning Polarimeter
Purpose Sensor to map radiometric and polarimetric information of global atmospheric particulate matter specifically PM2.5 and PM10 distributions.
Short description POSP has three SWIR bands at 1.38μm, 1.61μm and 2.25μm. The polarimetric system is designed to obtain simultaneous polarization measurements. It has two identical optical paths, their orientation is 45 degree, and it can measure the first three Stokes parameters I/Q/U. IFOV 6.4 km and radiometric accuracy 5%. InGaAs detectors cooled to below -60C. 6 UV/VIS channels may also be included but it is unclear if these are included in all versions of the instrument launched. All channels are given in the Table below. More details: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jqsrt.2022.108217
Background A new development.
Scanning Technique Cross-track scanning 1850 km swath width.
Resolution Spatial IFOV 6.4 km
Coverage / Cycle Seeking more information.
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency CNSA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2022 to 2033
Last update: 2022-07-18
Detailed characteristics
Channel Central Wavelength Bandwidth Polarisation
1 380 nm 20 nm I/Q/U
2 410 nm 20 nm I/Q/U
3 443 nm 20 nm I/Q/U
4 490 nm 20 nm I/Q/U
5 670 nm 20 nm I/Q/U
6 865 nm 40 nm I/Q/U
7 1380 nm 40 nm I/Q/U
8 1610 nm  60 nm I/Q/U
9 2250 nm 80 nm I/Q/U
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
  • Passive optical radiometer or spectrometer
  • Moderate resolution optical imager
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 2
  • Multi-angle, multi-polarization radiometers
  • Multi-angle, multi-polarization radiometer
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Aerosol Layer Height
  • Aerosol column burden
  • Aerosol dust concentration
  • Aerosol type
  • Cloud cover
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
Aerosol column burden*5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth), NIR and SWIR channels
Aerosol effective radius5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth), NIR and SWIR channels
Aerosol mass mixing ratio5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth), NIR and SWIR channels
Aerosol Optical Depth5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth), NIR and SWIR channels
Aerosol type*5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth), NIR and SWIR channels
Biomass4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI and LAI
Cloud cover*5 - marginalDaylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Cloud optical depth3 - highLow-density cloud only.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Cloud type5 - marginalDaylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Colour Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM)5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.A few narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for a few water types, mainly in open ocean
Downward short-wave irradiance at Earth surface3 - highCloud sensitive.. Highly indirect.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Earth surface albedo5 - marginalCloud sensitive.VIS channels
Fire fractional cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Coarse spatial resolution.. Daylight only.VIS channels
Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)4 - fairCloud sensitive.VIS channels including Red at 700 nm
Leaf Area Index (LAI)2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)3 - highCloud sensitive.VIS and NIR channels
Ocean chlorophyll concentration 5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.A few narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for a few water types, mainly in open ocean
Ocean Diffuse Attenuation Coefficient (DAC)5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.A few narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for a few water types, mainly in open ocean
Ocean suspended sediments concentration5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.A few narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for a few water types, mainly in open ocean
Oil spill cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS channels with narrow bandwidth
Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)4 - fairCloud sensitive.VIS channels, range undersampled
Short-wave cloud reflectance4 - fairNo specific limitation.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Snow cover2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels, enabling screening snow from clouds
Soil moisture at surface5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels. Soil moisture inferred from differential brightness
Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA5 - marginalSpectral interpolation needed.. Information on BRDF needed.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Aerosol volcanic ash5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Sea-ice cover4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR (for contour enhancement) and SWIR (for discrimination from clouds) channels