The scientific payload contains three instruments.
• Ku-band Scatterometer (SCAT-3)
• 13-band Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM-3)
• 2-band Sea Surface Temperature Monitor (SSTM)
• ARGOS by CNES French Space Agency
Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM-3) :
OCM-3 is a 13-band multi-spectral camera operating in the Visible and Near IR spectral range. It has 13 narrow (10-20 nm) spectral bands. This camera provides an instantaneous geometric field of view of 368 meter and a swath of ~ 15000 km. OCM can be tilted up to + 20 degree along track. OCM-3 is planned to be operated in two modes:
1. Local Area Coverage (LAC) mode at 366 m resolution
2. Global Area Coverage (GAC) mode at 1.1 km resolution
Scatterometer (SCAT-3) :
SCAT-3 is an active microwave device designed and developed at ISRO/SAC, Ahmedabad. It is used to determine ocean surface level wind vectors through estimation of radar
backscatter. Following are the sensor characteristics:
• Ku-band, HH/VV (Swath 1400km), VV (1400-1800km)
• High-resolution mode for ocean surface wind vectors at 12.5 km for the first time in addition to 25 km.
• Experimental mode of high resolution wind @5km
• Accuracy (RMSE): Speed ~ 1.5 m/s, Direction: ~15 deg.
• Noise Equivalent s0 improved by ~5dB to -39.5dB (-35dB) for H-beam, and -35dB (-31dB) for V-beam
Sea Surface Temperature Monitoring (SSTM) :
2-band Sea Surface Temperature Monitor (SSTM) is a new instrument on-board Oceansat-3.