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Instrument details
Acronym
TOR
Full name
Tracking, Occultation and Ranging
Purpose
Temperature/humidity sounding with highest vertical resolution, space weather
Short description
Measuring the phase delay due to refraction during occultation between GPS and LEO
Background
Consolidated technology
Scanning Technique
Limb scanning from 40 km altitude to close-to-surface by time sampling - Azimuth: 90° sector aft-
Resolution
About 300 km horizontal, 0.5 km vertical
Coverage / Cycle
1 GNSS constellation tracked. Soundings/day: about 200; average spacing 1600 km; global coverage (300 km spacing): 28 days
Mass
4.6 kg
Power
16 W
Data Rate
17 kbps
Providing Agency
DLR
Instrument Maturity
Flown on operational programme
Utilization Period:
2008-01-07 to ≥2024
Last update:
2021-06-15
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 GNSS radio-occultation
WIGOS Subcomponents
Subcomponent 1 GNSS radio occultation sounder (basic constellation)
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives Atmospheric temperature Height of the top of PBL Height of the tropopause Specific humidity Temperature of the tropopause
Secondary mission objectives
Opportunity objectives Show all Show 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
Variable Relevance for measuring this variable Operational limitations Explanation
Atmospheric temperature 3 - high Inaccurate in low troposphere. One directional antenna, one GNSS system tracked, covering about 250 soundings/day
Geoid 4 - fair Highly indirect. Radio-occultation processing implies precise orbitography. Geoid derived from multi-temporal analysis
Gravity field 5 - marginal Highly indirect. Radio-occultation processing implies precise orbitography. Gravity field derived from multi-temporal analysis
Height of the top of PBL 3 - high No specific limitation. One directional antenna, one GNSS system tracked, about 250 soundings/day. PBL top measured as discontinuity of the refraction index
Height of the tropopause 3 - high No specific limitation. One directional antenna, one GNSS system tracked, about 250 soundings/day. Tropopause height measured as discontinuity of the refraction index
Specific humidity 3 - high Inaccurate in high troposphere. One directional antenna, one GNSS system tracked, about 250 soundings/day
Temperature of the tropopause 3 - high No specific limitation. One directional antenna, one GNSS system tracked, about 250 soundings/day
Atmospheric density 1 - primary No specific limitation. Measuring atmospheric density
Instrument: TOR