AIRS

AIRS Instrument Suite

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 / Δλ ≈ 1200 nominal

λ / Δλ ≈ 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

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

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