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The Advanced SCATterometer (ASCAT)

The ASCAT, operating at C-band, provides continuity to the ERS-1 and ERS-2 scatterometers. The ASCAT is onboard the Metop-A satellite, which was launched into a sun-synchronous orbit on 19 October 2006 and has been operational since May 2007. ASCAT operates at a frequency of 5.255GHz in vertical polarisation. Its use of six antennas allows the simultaneous coverage of two swaths on either side of the satellite ground track, allowing for much greater coverage then its predecessors. It takes about 2 days to map the entire globe. A 50 km resolution soil moisture product is now operational from ASCAT, available from EUMETSAT.

Mission	ASCAT
Sensor	Microwave radar
Spacecraft	Metop-A
Launch date	19th, Oct. 2006
Design life (year)	5
Orbit	Polar orbit at an angle of 98.7° to the equator and at an altitude of 758km.
Space operations control centre	European Meteorological Satellite Organisation (EUMESAT)
Center frequency (GHz)	5.255 (C-band)
Polarisation	VV
Swath	Two 520km swaths at each side, with 700km gap between them
Spatial resolution (km)	50
Temporal resolution	~2 days for covering global

ASCAT overpass time

ASCAT coverage for the Murrumbidgee Catchment during the AACES-2 campaign has been calculated by a Fortran program based on NORAD data for 29th, Aug. 2010, and is summarized in the table below. Date and time are in UTC. Aircraft flights were assumed to be conducted at 7:45 for descending overpass and 20:35 for ascending overpass.

	: Transect flight within 6 hours		: Patch flight within 6 hours
●	: Fully covered	○	: Partially covered

UTC Date

Start UTC Time

Duration (s)

Flight

Patch

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

2010/09/08

11:23:20

176

○

●

●

●

2010/09/08

22:41:50

229

○

○

●

●

●

●

●

●

2010/09/09

12:42:51

208

●

●

●

●

●

○

○

2010/09/10

0:01:50

148

●

●

○

2010/09/10

12:21:32

281

○

●

●

●

●

●

2010/09/10

23:40:10

263

T01

○

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

2010/09/11

23:19:16

280

○

2010/09/12

11:39:49

263

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

○

2010/09/12

22:58:32

276

P04

●

●

●

●

●

○

○

2010/09/13

11:20:02

141

○

○

●

2010/09/13

22:38:26

211

○

●

●

●

●

●

2010/09/14

12:39:08

227

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

○

2010/09/14

23:58:00

181

●

●

●

○

2010/09/15

12:17:53

287

○

●

●

●

2010/09/15

23:36:31

270

P05

○

○

●

●

●

●

●

●

2010/09/16

11:56:50

294

●

○

2010/09/17

11:36:18

253

○

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

2010/09/17

22:55:00

271

●

●

●

●

●

●

○

○

2010/09/18

11:16:54

83

○

2010/09/18

22:35:03

190

P06

○

○

●

●

●

2010/09/19

12:35:27

241

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

○

○

2010/09/19

23:54:12

206

●

●

●

●

○

○

2010/09/20

12:14:12

293

○

●

●

2010/09/20

23:32:53

275

P07

○

○

●

●

●

●

●

2010/09/21

11:53:15

289

●

●

○

2010/09/21

23:12:04

280

P08

○

●

2010/09/22

11:32:48

241

○

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

2010/09/22

22:51:28

265

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

○

○

2010/09/23

12:53:35

104

○

○

2010/09/23

22:31:44

162

T02

○

○

●

●

2010/09/24

12:31:46

252

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

2010/09/24

23:50:27

225

●

●

●

●

●

●

○

2010/09/25

12:10:32

296

○

●

2010/09/25

23:29:16

278

○

●

●

●

●

2010/09/26

11:49:39

284

●

●

●

●

○

2010/09/26

23:08:27

281

○

○