Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System(AMSR-E)
The AMSR-E sensor is a passive microwave radiometer operating at 6 frequencies ranging from 6.925 to 89.0GHz. Both horizontally and vertically polarized radiation are measured at each frequency with an incidence angle of 55°. The ground spatial resolution at nadir is 75 × 45km for the 6.925GHz channel (C-band). The AMSR-E is one of six sensors onboard Aqua, which was launched in 2002. It has a 1:30am/pm equator crossing orbit with 1-2 day repeat coverage. Several surface soil moisture products are available globally. AMSR-E brightness temperature data can be downloaded free of charge from the NSIDC website or other Distributed Active Archive Center's (DAAC's). While the current AMSR-E sensor continues to outlive its expected lifetime, a follow-on mission is planned by JAXA for the near future. The features of AMSR-E are summarized below. AMSR-E data can be downloaded from NASA.
Mission |
AMSR-E |
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Sensor |
Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) |
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Spacecraft |
Aqua |
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Launch date |
4th, May 2002 |
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Design life |
6 years |
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Orbit |
Sun-synchronous, near-polar orbit. Cross Equator at 1:30pm, ascending mode. |
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Spacecraft operations control centre |
National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) |
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Centre frequency (GHz) |
6.925 |
10.65 |
18.7 |
23.8 |
36.5 |
89.0 |
Band width (MHz) |
350 |
100 |
200 |
400 |
1000 |
3000 |
Polarisation |
H & V |
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Incidence angle(°) |
55 |
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Swath (km) |
1445 |
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Spatial resolution (km) |
75 × 43 |
51 × 29 |
27 × 16 |
32 × 18 |
14 × 8 |
6 × 4 |
Radiometric resolution (K) |
0.3 |
0.6 |
0.6 |
0.6 |
0.6 |
1.1 |
Temporal resolution |
~3 days at the equator and more frequently at higher latitudes |
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AMSR-E overpass time
The AMSR-E overpass times for the SMAPEx study area have been determined from a Fortran program based on NORAD data, and are provided in the table below. Date and time are in UTC.
●=full AMSR-E coverage of airborne box; ○=partial AMSR-E coverage
●=concurrent; ●=non concurrent
Date (UTC) |
AMSR-E overpass (UTC) |
Duration (s) | Flight Type |
| 05/09/2011 |
|
- |
|
07/09/2011 |
|
167 |
|
10/09/2011 |
|
- |
|
13/09/2011 |
|
220 |
|
| 13/09/2011 |
|
202 |
|
15/09/2011 |
|
201 |
|
15/09/2011 |
|
145 |
|
| 18/09/2011 |
|
189 |
|
| 18/09/2011 |
|
217 |
|
| 19/09/2011 |
|
- |
|
| 21/09/2011 |
|
- |
|
| 23/09/2011 |
|
147 |
|