POLDER

Polarization and Directionality of the Earth’s Reflectances

Satellites

PARASOL, ADEOS-1, ADEOS-2

Status

Operational (on PARASOL) – Utilised in the period: 2004 to ~ 2008 (ADEOS-1: 1996-97; ADEOS-2: 2002-03)

Mission

Aerosol, ocean colour, vegetation, Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)

Instrument type

9-wavelength radiometer with 3 polarisations at 4 wavelengths (3 in ADEOS) - total: 17 channels

Scanning technique

242 x 274 CCD arrays, 2200 km swath, each earth’s spot viewed from more directions as satellite moves

Coverage/cycle

Near-global coverage every day in daylight.

Resolution (s.s.p.)

6 km IFOV (PARASOL), 6.5 km IFOV (ADEOS)

Resources

Mass: 32 kg - Power: 50 W - Data rate: 883 kbps

Central wavelength

Bandwidth

Polarisations

Radiometric accuracy (SNR)

444.5 nm

20 nm

three

…... @ ….. % albedo

444.9 nm

20 nm

none

…... @ ….. % albedo

492.2 nm

20 nm

three

…... @ ….. % albedo

564.5 nm

20 nm

none

…... @ ….. % albedo

670.2 nm

20 nm

three

…... @ ….. % albedo

763.3 nm

10 nm

none

…... @ ….. % albedo

763.1 nm

40 nm

none

…... @ ….. % albedo

860.8 nm

40 nm

three

…... @ ….. % albedo

907.3 nm

20 nm

none

…... @ ….. % albedo