BackForwardInstrument:  PR 

Instrument details
Acronym PR
Full name Precipitation Radar
Purpose Vertical profile of precipitation
Short description One frequency, 13.8 GHz. Sensitivity: 0.7 mm/h
Background New development
Scanning Technique Electronic scanning, planar array of 128 elements, swath 215 km
Resolution Horizontal 4.3 km, vertical 250 m (blind to the lowest ~ 150 m)
Coverage / Cycle Intertropical coverage 1 to 2 times/day depending on latitude (best coverage at 15°N and 15°S)
Mass 465 kg Power 250 W Data Rate 93.2 kbps

 

Providing Agency JAXA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 1998 to 2015-04-01
Last update: 2012-07-13
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
  • Cloud and precipitation radar
WIGOS Subcomponents No WIGOS subcomponents have been defined.
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Cloud drop effective radius
  • Cloud ice
  • Cloud ice Total Column
  • Cloud ice effective radius
  • Cloud liquid water (CLW)
Show allShow 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
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Accumulated precipitation (over 24 h)4 - fairLiquid precipitation dominant.. Poor time sampling.. Time sampling to be interpolated by GEO.Ku-band radar (around 13 GHz). Sensitive to liquid precipitation
Cloud drop effective radius1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Ku-band radar (around 13 GHz) for large drops
Cloud ice4 - fairNo specific limitation.Ku-band radar for large particles
Cloud ice Total Column4 - fairNo specific limitation.Ku-band radar (around 13 GHz) for large particles
Cloud ice effective radius1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Ku-band radar (around 13 GHz) for large particles
Cloud liquid water (CLW)1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Ku-band radar (around 13 GHz) for large drops
Cloud liquid water (CLW) total column1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Ku-band radar for large drops
Freezing level height in clouds1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Ku-band radar (around 13 GHz). Detected as "bright-band"
Melting layer depth in clouds1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Ku-band radar (around 13 GHz). Detected as "bright-band"
Precipitation (liquid or solid)3 - highLiquid precipitation dominant.Ku-band radar (around 13 GHz) for large drops
Precipitation intensity at surface (liquid or solid)2 - very highLiquid precipitation dominant.Ku-band radar (around 13 GHz). Sensitive to heavy precipitation