AIRS Instrument Suite
Instrument
Launch date
Orbit
Swath Width
Ground Coverage
Temporal Coverage
Design Life
May 4, 2002
705 km polar, Sun synchronous, 98.2 ± 0.1 degree inclination, ascending node: 1:30 pm, period: 98.88 minutes 1650 km (± 49.5 degrees)
> 95% global daily
Global, twice daily swath (day and night)
AIRS: 5 years; AMSU/HSB: 3 years
Performance Characteristics
Spatial Resolution
Spatial Sampling
Spectral Range
Spectral Resolution
Spectral Sampling
Spectral Accuracy
Radiometric Accuracy
Radiometric Stability
Radiometric Sensitivity
Data Volume
13.5 km at nadir; 41 km x 21.4 km at the scan extremes
90 1.1˚ footprints per scan (2.67 seconds) 1650 km (± 49.5 degrees)
2378 channels from 3.75-15.4 μm (2665-650 cm-¹)
λ / ∆λ ≈ 1200 nominal
λ / ∆λ ≈ 2400 nominal
± 1 ppm
< 0.2 K 3 sigma at 256 K
10 mK/year
(NEdT @ 250 K) 0.07-0.40 K from 3.75-11 μm; 0.27-0.68 K from 11.75-15.4 μm
56 MB per granule, 13.4 GB/day
AIRS Infrared Radiances
Spatial Resolution
Spatial Sampling
Spectral Range
2.3 x 1.8 km (across-track, along-track)
8 x 9 pixels per AIRS 13.5 km footprint
4 channels from 0.4-1.0 μm:
Channel 1: 0.40-0.44 μm
Channel 2: 0.58-0.68 μm
Channel 3: 0.71-0.92 μm
Channel 4: 0.49-0.94 μm
AIRS Visible/Near-Infrared Radiances
Signal-to-Noise
Radiometric Accuracy
Data Volume
(ratio at albedo of 0.4) > 100
10%
11 MB per granule, 2.6 GB/day
AMSU-A Radiances
Spatial Resolution
Spatial Sampling
Spectral Range
Bandwidth
4.5 km at nadir
30 footprints per scan
15 channels from 23.8-89 GHz
Channels 1-9: 160-400 MHz
Channels 10-14: 12-150 MHz
Channel 15: 2000 MHz
Sensitivity
Data Volume
(NEdT) 0.1-1 K (9/15 channels < 0.25 K)
0.6 MB per granule, 144 MB/day
HSB Radiances (data set available from May 5, 2002 through December 5, 2003)
Spatial Resolution
Spatial Sampling
Spectral Range
Bandwidth
Sensitivity
Data Volume
13.5 km at nadir
90 1.1˚ footprints per scan (2.67 seconds)
4 channels from 150-183.3 GHz
0.5-2.0 GHz
(NEdT) 0.28-0.58 K
1.7 MB per granule, 408 MB/day
Instrument Specifications