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 m (2665'650 cm')
/ ' ' 1200 nominal
/ ' ' 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 m; 0.27'0.68 K from 11.75'15.4 m
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 m:
Channel 1: 0.40'0.44 m
Channel 2: 0.58'0.68 m
Channel 3: 0.71'0.92 m
Channel 4: 0.49'0.94 m
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