ESA - Living Planet Programme - MetOp - ASCAT products

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ASCAT products

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Winds over the sea cause disturbances of the sea surface which modify its radar backscattering characteristics in a particular way. These backscattering properties are well known and are dependent on both the wind speed over the sea and the direction of the wind with respect to the point from which the sea surface is observed. ASCAT, carried on MetOp-A, exploits this fact by using radar to measure these backscatter coefficients, which can then be applied to deduce actual wind speed and direction for weather forecasting. ASCAT will provide data at 50-kilometre resolution, which will be distributed in near real-time to key meteorological offices. In addition to wind vector determination, data from ASCAT will also find roles in areas such as ice, snow and soil moisture monitoring.

Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

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Data from ERS-2 scatterometer - Cyclone Sam off the Northern coast of Australia

Credits: ESA - ESRIN Product Control Service

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Map of the plant-available-water for Africa for the month Januar

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Map of the plant-available-water for Africa for the month January. Blue and brown indicate high and low concentrations respectively.

Credits: Global soil moisture archive

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Large iceberg discovered to be adrift in the Drake Passage

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Large iceberg discovered to be adrift in the Drake Passage (between Antartica and Tierra del Fuego)

Credits: NASA

Last update: 26 May 2010

In depth

About ASCAT Scanning principle Instrument design drivers Calculation wind speed and direction Description Functional elements Performance Calibration Ground Processor Prototype

Measuring wind over the oceans with ASCAT