ceos   eesa
eo_handbook
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Capabilities of Earth Observation Satellites
  Atmospheric Chemistry Instruments
  Atmospheric Temperature and Humidity Sounders  
  Cloud Profile and Rain Radars  
  Earth Radiation Budget Radiometers  
  High Resolution Optical Imagers  
  Hyperspectral Imagers  
  Imaging Multi-Spectral Radiometers (vis/IR)  
  Imaging Multi-Spectral Radiometers (Passive Microwave)
  Imaging Microwave Radars  
  Lidars  
  Lightning Instruments  
  Multiple Direction/Polarisation Instruments  
  Ocean Colour Instruments  
  Radar Altimeters  
  Scatterometers  
  Gravity, Magnetic Field and Geodynamic Instruments  
Earth Observation Plans: by Measurement
 
Catalogue of Satellite Missions
 
Catalogue of Satellite Instruments
 
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Imaging Multi–spectral Radiometers (visible/IR)

Description

Visible/IR imaging multi-spectral radiometers are used to image Earth’s atmosphere and surface, providing accurate spectral information at spatial resolutions of order 100 m up to several km, with a swath width generally in the range several hundred to a few thousand km.

In addition, these observations can be used to study critical components of the water cycle, such as cloud macro- and micro-physical properties, from which information on atmospheric dynamics and pollutants can be determined.

The information obtained from these instruments is often complemented by that from atmospheric sounders, since atmospheric effects such as absorption must be taken into account in deriving parameters such as surface temperatures.

Recent developments include improvements in spatial resolution (which, in some cases, is equivalent to those of high-resolution imagers), spectral resolution, radiometric accuracy and multi-angle capability. Planned hyperspectral instruments that will be able to simultaneously acquire imagery in many tens of wavebands should significantly improve the quality of land cover and land use information derived from satellite imagery.

Applications

Measurements from these multi-spectral radiometers operating in IR and visible bands may be used to infer a wide range of parameters, including sea and land surface temperatures, snow and sea ice cover, and Earth’s surface albedo. These instruments may also make measurements of cloud cover and cloud top temperatures. Measurements of the motion vectors of clouds made by radiometers on geostationary satellites may be used in order to derive tropospheric wind estimates. Accurate information on atmospheric dynamics, derived from the instruments mounted on geostationary meteorological satellites like GMS, GOES or Meteosat, is essential for precise short- and medium-term weather forecasts provided by NWP centres in Japan, the US and Europe.

Visible/IR radiometers are an important source of data on processes in the biosphere, providing information on global vegetation and its variations on sub-seasonal scales. This allows monitoring of natural, anthropogenic, and climate-induced effects on land ecosystems. Observations by AVHRR on NOAA and MetOp are traditionally used to provide classification and seasonal monitoring of global vegetation types, allowing estimation of primary production (the growth of vegetation that is the base of the food chain) and terrestrial carbon balances. Such information is of great value in supporting the identification of drought areas and provides early warning of food shortages.

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Current & planned instruments

ABI MERSI-2
Advanced KMSS METimage
Advanced MI MI
Advanced MSU-MR MIRS
AHI MMRS
ALISS III MODIS
AVHRR/3 MS
AWFI MS (GISTDA)
AWiFS MSI (EarthCARE)
CCD (ZY-02C and ZY-3) MSU-GS
CCD camera MSU-MR
CHRIS Multi-spectral thermal infrared imager (HyspIRI)
EPIC MUX
ETM+ MUX (ZY-3)
FCI MVIRI
HRMX MVIRS
HRMX-TIR MX (Cartosat-3)
HRMX-VNIR NigeriaSat Medium Resolution
HRTC NIRST
HSC OLCI
HSC OLI
HSI OLS
HSI (HJ-1A) PCWMP
HSTC RASAT VIS Multispectral
HYC RASAT VIS Panchromatic
Hyperion SEVIRI
HySI (Cartosat-3/3A) SGLI
HYSI-SWIR SLSTR
HYSI-VNIR TANSO-CAI
IIR TANSO-CAI-2
IR (HJ-1B) TIR (Oceansat-3/3A)
Imager TIRS
Imager (INSAT) VEGETATION
IMAGER/MTSAT-2 VHRR
IR Correlation Radiometer (GeoCape) VIIRS
IRS VIRR
IVISSR (FY-2) VIRS
JAMI/MTSAT-1R Visible imaging spectrometer (HyspIRI)
KMSS VSC
LEISA AC WFC
MCSI WFI-2
MERSI  

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A geostationary satellite composite cloud map. Data from these satellites are an essential input to today’s weather forecasting systems.



A Blue Marble image of Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard Suomi NPP in early 2012.
 
 
  Further Information

AVHRR: edc2.usgs.gov/1KM/avhrr_sensor.php
SEVIRI (Meteosat): www.esa.int/msg/pag4.html
IMAGER (GOES): noaasis.noaa.gov/NOAASIS/ml/imager.html
MERIS: earth.esa.int/web/guest/missions/esaoperational-eo-missions/envisat/instruments/meris
MODIS: modis.gsfc.nasa.gov
RASAT: www.uzay.tubitak.gov.tr/tubitakUzay/en/projects/spaceApplications.php
VEGETATION: www.cnes.fr/web/CNES-en/1468-vegetation.php