WMO OSCAR | Details for Instrument SCIAMACHY-limb

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Instrument: SCIAMACHY-limb

Instrument details

Acronym	SCIAMACHY-limb
Full name	Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Cartography (limb-scanning component)
Purpose	Atmospheric chemistry. Tracked species: BrO, CH4, ClO, CO, CO2, H2O, HCHO, N2O, NO, NO2, NO3, O2, O3, O4, OClO, SO2 and aerosol
Short description	UV/VIS/NIR/SWIR grating spectrometer, eight bands, 8192 channels, with 7 polarisation channels [see detailed characteristics below]
Background	New development
Scanning Technique	Limb scanning of ± 500 km horizontal sector is provided. Also solar and lunar occultation: in this mode the instrument is self-calibrating (DOAS principle). The limb mode, the solar/lunar occultation mode and the cross-nadir mode are alternative to each other
Resolution	Vertical: 3 km
Coverage / Cycle	If used full time, the limb mode would provide global coverage every 3 days (in daylight). Solar and lunar occultation: N/A
Mass	198 kg	Power	122 W	Data Rate	400 kbps

Providing Agency	ESA
Instrument Maturity	Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period:	2002 to 2012
Last update:	2022-07-26

Detailed characteristics

Spectral range	No. of channels	Spectral resolution	SNR at specified input spectral radiance
214-334 nm	1024	0.24 nm	500 @ 1.5 W m^-2 sr^-1 μm^-1
300-412 nm	1024	0.26 nm	4000 @ 130 W m^-2 sr^-1 μm^-1
383-628 nm	1024	0.44 nm	4500 @ 170 W m^-2 sr^-1 μm^-1
595-812 nm	1024	0.48 nm	3000 @ 49 W m^-2 sr^-1 μm^-1
773-1063 nm	1024	0.54 nm	2500 @ 24 W m^-2 sr^-1 μm^-1
971-1773 nm	1024	1.48 nm	1000 @ 8.2 W m^-2 sr^-1 μm^-1
1934-2044 nm	1024	0.22 nm	10 @ 0.2 W m^-2 sr^-1 μm^-1
2259-2386 nm	1024	0.26 nm	7 @ 0.1 W m^-2 sr^-1 μm^-1
310-2380 nm	7	67 to 137 nm	Not relevant

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

Environmental Satellite (ESA)
- Envisat (see instrument status) Jun 2002 - Apr 2012

Instrument classification

Earth observation instrument
Limb sounders
Limb sounder

WIGOS Subcomponents

Subcomponent 2
UV/VIS/NIR/IR/MW limb sounders
UV/VIS/NIR/IR/MW scanning limb sounder
UV/VIS/NIR/IR occultation limb sounder

Mission objectives

Primary mission objectives

BrO
CH3Br
CH4 mole fraction
CO
CO2 mole fraction
ClO
H2O
HCHO
N2O mole fraction
NO
NO2
O3
SO2

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.

Search:

Variable	Relevance for measuring this variable	Operational limitations	Explanation
BrO*	3 - high	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	UV spectrometry. BrO lines around 300 nm. Limb sounding mechanically or electronically
HCHO*	3 - high	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	UV spectrometry. HCHO lines around 350 nm.
ClO*	3 - high	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	UV Spectrometry. ClO lines around 300 nm.
Atmospheric temperature	4 - fair	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	UV, VIS, NIR and SWIR spectrometry.
CH4 mole fraction*	4 - fair	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	SWIR spectrometry. CH4 lines around 2.3 micrometers.
CO*	4 - fair	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	SWIR spectrometry. CO lines around 2.3 micrometers.
CO2 mole fraction*	4 - fair	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	SWIR spectrometry. CO2 lines around 1.6 and 2.1 micrometers.
H2O*	4 - fair	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	Spectrometry in UV and VIS (several weak bands), and NIR and SWIR (strong bands around 940 and 1380 nm).
N2O mole fraction*	4 - fair	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	SWIR spectrometry. N2O lines around 2.3 micrometers.
NO*	4 - fair	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	UV spectrometry. NO lines around 250 nm.
NO2*	4 - fair	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	UV and VIS spectrometry. Several lines in the ranges around 220 nm and 400 nm.
O3*	4 - fair	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	UV and VIS spectrometry. Ozone lines in the bands around 260 nm (Hartley) and/or 340 nm (Huggins) and 600 nm (Chappuis).
PSC occurrence	4 - fair	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	UV and VIS spectrometry.
SO2*	4 - fair	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	UV spectrometry. SO2 lines around 350 nm.
Specific humidity	4 - fair	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	UV, VIS, NIR and SWIR spectrometry with several water vapour bands (main: around 940 and 1380 nm nm).
Aerosol mass mixing ratio	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	UV, VIS, NIR and SWIR spectrometry.
CH3Br*	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	Spectrometry in the HC3Br band from 200 to 250 nm
Aerosol volcanic ash	5 - marginal	Limited to high atmosphere.. Daylight only.	UV, VIS, NIR and SWIR spectrometry;

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