Gap analyses by variable or by type of mission

Please select either a variable or a type of mission to display a time chart of satellite instruments having the potential to provide the corresponding measurements. The selection is based on design characteristics (Expert analysis) or declared mission objectives (Simplified analysis). Such a preliminary analysis does not replace a detailed assessment of the actual instrument performances, data availability, and quality of derived environmental data records against specific user requirements.

Note: The chart can be sorted by clicking on the header columns and filtered by instrument properties when applicable. Select the period of interest with the cursor at the bottom of the chart. Future missions which are not firmly planned are shaded with stripes. A warning icon (Important note) indicates degraded satellite: hover over the icon for details. The chart is followed by a table of all potentially relevant instruments.

Select a variable

or select a type of mission

Instrument types
Analysis
Help icon
Help icon
In "Simplified" mode, the results in the analysis are calculated by looking at each instrument's mission objectives: for each instrument we keep track of what the primary, secondary, and opportunity mission objectives are. These mission objectives indicate that an instrument is primarily envisioned to measure variable X, Y and Z, that variables A, B and C are its secondary objective, and that it may offer the opportunity to measure variables I and II although it is not optimized for that. The simplified Gap analysis produces a timeline based on this information. The simplified Gap analysis is only available for analyzing variables, not for missions.
In "Expert system" mode, the results in the analysis are calculated with an expert system. Internally, OSCAR works with a large set of 1700 rules that determine whether or not an instrument is capable of measuring a given variable, and to what degree. When you select "Expert system", the Gap analysis is performed based on this large set of rules.

Variable sorting criteria

 

Each instrument is assigned with a 5-step rating, evaluated as a blend of several elements such as the uncertainty, the vertical resolution, and the frequency and spatial resolution of the retrieved measurement in comparison with the space-time variability of the geophysical parameter.  For this particular Variable, the rating is driven by:

  • the observing technique (active or passive).

 

RATING CRITERIA:

1
  • Radar scatterometer in C-band and Ku-band

2
  • Radar scatterometer in C-band or Ku-band

3
  • Polarimetric MW radiometer

4
  • -

5
  • -
Measurement timeline for Wind vector (near surface)

Definition:

Horizontal wind vector, at a known height above the surface which is to be sprcified in the metadata

Hint: Move around in the timeline by scrolling up, down, left or right.

Found 31 results

This table has a large number of results.
HideShow inactive instruments
Instrument NRT? Relevance Satellite Orbit
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
2036
2037
2038
2039
2040
2041
2042
2043
2044
2045
2046
2047
WindRAD1 - primaryFY-3E05:30 descXXXXXX
WindRAD1 - primaryFY-3I05:30 descXXXXXX
AMI-SCAT2 - very highERS-110:30 desc
X
XXXXXXXX
X
AMI-SCAT2 - very highERS-210:30 desc
X
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
X
ASCATYes2 - very highMetop-A08:46 desc
X
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
ASCATYes2 - very highMetop-B09:30 desc
X
XXXXXXXXXXXX
ASCAT2 - very highMetop-C09:30 desc
X
XXXXXXXXX
SCA (Scatterometer)2 - very highMetop-SG-B109:30 descXXXXXXXX
SCA (Scatterometer)2 - very highMetop-SG-B209:30 descXXXXXXXX
SCA (Scatterometer)2 - very highMetop-SG-B309:30 descXXXXXXXX
NSCAT2 - very highADEOS10:30 desc
X
X
OSCAT Important note2 - very highOceanSat-211:53 desc
X
XXXX
X
OSCAT2 - very highOceanSat-312:00 descXXXXXX
OSCAT2 - very highScatSat-108:27 desc
X
XXXXX
OSCAT2 - very highOceanSat-3A12:00 descXXXXXX
RapidScat2 - very highISS RapidScat51.6 °
X
X
X
SASS2 - very highSeaSat108 °
X
SCAT (CFOSAT)2 - very highCFOSAT07:00 desc
X
XXXX
SCAT (CFOSAT)2 - very highCFOSAT follow-on07:00 descXXXXXX
SCAT (HY-2A)2 - very highHY-2B06:00 desc
X
XXXXX
SCAT (HY-2A)2 - very highHY-2C66 °
X
XXXXX
SCAT (HY-2A)2 - very highHY-2D66 °XXXXXX
SCAT (HY-2A)2 - very highHY-2E06:00 descXXXXXX
SCAT (HY-2A)2 - very highHY-2F66 °XXXXXX
SCAT (HY-2A)2 - very highHY-2G66 °XXXXXX
SCAT (HY-2A)2 - very highHY-2A06:00 desc
X
XXXXXXXXXX
SeaWinds2 - very highADEOS-210:30 desc
X
X
SeaWinds2 - very highQuikSCAT06:00 asc
X
XXXXXXXXX
X
MTVZA-OK (MW)3 - highSICH-1M82.5 °
X
X
X
WindSat Important noteNo3 - highCoriolis06:10 desc
X
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
COWVR3 - highISS COWVR51.6 °XXXX
All instruments for measuring Wind vector (near surface)
Instruments Relevance Operational limitations
WindRAD1 - primary
AMI-SCAT2 - very high
ASCAT2 - very high
SCA (Scatterometer)2 - very high
NSCAT2 - very high
OSCAT2 - very high
RapidScat2 - very high
SASS2 - very high
SCAT (CFOSAT)2 - very high
SCAT (HY-2A)2 - very high
SCAT (Meteor-M N3)2 - very high
SeaWinds2 - very high
MTVZA-OK (MW)3 - high
WindSat3 - high
COWVR3 - high