BackForwardInstrument:  POAM 

Instrument details
Acronym POAM
Full name Polar Ozone and Aerosol Measurement
Purpose Atmospheric chemistry in high troposphere and stratosphere. Tracked species: H2O, NO2, O3 and aerosol
Short description

9-channel photometer operating in the range 350-1064 nm (POAM-2 on SPOT 3) or 350-1024 nm (POAM-3 on SPOT 4). Spectral resolution about 10 nm
Background

New development
Scanning Technique

Limb scanning in solar occultation; vertical range 10-60 km
Resolution 300 km (horizontal), 0.6 km (vertical)
Coverage / Cycle N/A (few tens of events/day limited to latitudes above ~ 60
Mass 25 kg Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency NRL
Instrument Maturity Flown on operational programme
Utilization Period: 1993 to 2006
Last update: 2026-06-01
Detailed characteristics
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Limb sounders
  • Limb sounder
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 2
  • UV/VIS/NIR/IR/MW limb sounders
  • UV/VIS/NIR/IR occultation limb sounder
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • H2O
  • NO2
  • O3 Stratospheric Column
  • O3 mole fraction
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Atmospheric temperature5 - marginalDaylight only.. Limited to high atmosphere.VIS spectroscopy at lower resolution 10 nm
Specific humidity5 - marginalDaylight only.. Limited to high atmosphere.NIR spectrometry with several water vapour bands (main: around 940 nm).