The MEGHA-TROPIQUES satellite is dedicated to the study of the atmospheric water cycle and energy budget in the tropical atmosphere. Its orbit, slightly inclined relative to the equator (20°), allows it to obtain measurements with an excellent revisit rate. The satellite carries four instruments:
- The MADRAS microwave radiometer, the mission's main instrument, designed to measure precipitation and cloud characteristics,
- The SAPHIR microwave radiometer sounder, for calculating the vertical profiles of water vapour in the atmosphere,
- The SCARAB broadband optical radiometer, for measuring radiation fluxes at the top of the atmosphere,
- The GPS radio-occultation receiver, for determining atmospheric temperature and humidity.
Megha-Tropiques Level1 Product definition
Three types of L1 products will be disseminated to science users: L1A, L1B, L1C. The products are defined in the following sections.
Level-1A: It is the brightness temperature geo-tagged product for all channels in scan mode in HDF-5 Format.
Level-1B: It is the brightness temperature product in grid mode in HDF-5 Format; Orbit wise products will also be generated.
Level-1C: It is the brightness temperature geo-tagged product in co-located in scan mode in HDF-5 Format.
Megha-Tropiques Level2 Product definition
Two types of L2 products will be disseminated to science users: L2A, L2B. The products are defined in the following sections. In the frame of the MEGHA-TROPIQUES, some L2 products have to be disseminated in Near Real Time. They will be mentioned as NRT products and the other products as standard products..
All products L2A, L2B will be available as standard and NRT products
STANDARD PRODUCT
- Standard products are defined orbit wise
- Data latency of standard products is six hours (TBC) from data acquisition in nominal situation at MOSDAC.
NRT PRODUCTS
- NRT products are dumping wise products. The amount of data of one NRT file will depend on the quantity of data transmitted to the ground station over one pass. Generally, the size of a NRT product will on average be equal to one orbit’s data.
- Data latency of the NRT products is expected to be less than 3.30 hours from sensing to users
