BackForwardInstrument:  MIPAS 

Instrument details
Acronym MIPAS
Full name Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding
Purpose Chemistry of the high atmosphere.  Tracked species: C2H2, C2H6, CFC’s (CCl4, CF4, F11, F12, F22), CH4, ClONO2, CO, COF2, H2O, HNO3, HNO4, HOCl, N2O, N2O5, NO, NO2, O3, OCS, SF6 and aerosol
Short description Michelson interferometer; range 685-2410 cm-1 (4.15-14.6 µm); spectral resolution 0.035 cm-1 unapodised; 49,300 channels/spectrum; NESR: 50 nW cm-2 sr-1 cm @ 685 cm-1, 4.2 nW cm-2 sr-1 cm @ 2410 cm-1
Background New development
Scanning Technique Limb scanning, fore- and side.  75 s for one vertical scan; 80 scans/orbit, 1145 profiles/day
Resolution Vertical: 3 km, in the altitude range 5-150 km.  Horizontal effective resolution: ~ 300 km (limb geometry)
Coverage / Cycle Global coverage every 3 days for one measurement in every 300 x 300 km2 cell
Mass 320 kg Power 210 W Data Rate 8 Mbps

 

Providing Agency ESA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2002 to 2012-04-08
Last update: 2018-03-19
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
  • Limb sounders
  • Limb sounder
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • C2H2 Mole Fraction
  • C2H6 Mole Fraction
  • CFC-11 Mole Fraction
  • CFC-12 Mole Fraction
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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
Atmospheric temperature4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry.
C2H2 Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.TIR spectrometry. C2H2 lines around 7.5 and 13.7 micrometers.
C2H6 Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry. C2H6 lines around 3.3 and 12 micrometers.
CFC-11 Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.TIR spectrometry. CFC-11 lines around 9.2 and 11.7 micrometers.
CFC-12 Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.TIR spectrometry. CFC-12 lines around 8.8 and 10.8 micrometers.
HCFC-22 Mole Fraction2 - very highLimited to high atmosphere.TIR spectrometry. HCFC-22 lines around 7.6, 9.0 and 12.3 micrometers
CH4 Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry. CH4 lines around 4.3 and 7.7 micrometers.
ClONO2 Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry. ClONO2 lines around 5.7, 7.7 and 12.5 micrometers.
CO Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR spectrometry. CO lines around 4.6 micrometers.
CO2 Mole Fraction2 - very highLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry. CO2 lines around 4.3 and 15 micrometers. Limb sounding mechanical or electronical
COS Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry. COS lines around 4.8 and 11.6 micrometers.
H2O Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR/TIR spectrometry in a range centred on 6.3 micrometers.
HNO3 Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry. HNO3 lines around 5.9, 7.6 and 11.3 micrometers.
N2O Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry. N2O lines around 4.5 and 7.7 micrometers.
4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry. N2O5 lines around 5.8 and 8 micrometers.
NO Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR spectrometry. NO lines around 5.3 micrometers.
NO2 Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.TIR spectrometry. NO2 lines around 6.1 micrometers.
O3 Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.TIR spectrometry. Ozone band around 9.7 micrometers.
PAN Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry. PAN lines around 5.7, 8.6 and 12.5 micrometers.
PSC occurrence4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry. Limb sounding mechanically or electronically
SF6 Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.TIR spectrometry. SF6 lines around 10.5 micrometers.
SO2 Mole Fraction4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.TIR spectrometry. SO2 lines around 7.3 and 8.6 micrometers.
Specific humidity4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.MWIR and TIR spectrometry in the water vapour band around 6.3 micrometers