OSCAR

Relevant instruments and their contribution

The sorting column describes how the instruments, by design, have the potential to contribute to certain pre-determined capabilities, assuming nominal operation of space and ground segments. For this particular capability, instrument performance is considered to be driven by:

• the band used for the radar scatterometer (C-band and/or Ku-band);
• the scanning mechanism to provide differential sigma-noughts under different viewing angles;
• the number of polarisations used by MW radiometers.

 Sorting criteria and colour code:

1. Radar scatterometer operating in C-band (~5.3 GHz) AND/OR Ku-band (~13.3 GHz).
2. Polarimetric MW radiometer operating at ~10, ~19 and ~37 GHz.
3. Conical scanning MW radiometer with >=2 channels (one 2-pol frequency) on one or more of the frequencies ~7, ~10, ~19 and ~37 GHz.
4. Radar altimeter, nadir-pointing OR with large swath.
5. System of GNSS receivers embarked on a cluster of dedicated micro-satellites.