| Instrument | Status/
Accuracy | Instrument Description | Measurement Technology | Timeline |
ABI
Advanced Baseline Imager | Operational
| Detects clouds, cloud properties, water vapour, land and sea surface temperatures, dust, aerosols, volcanic ash, fires, total ozone, snow and ice cover, vegetation index. | n/a |  |
AGRI
Advanced Geosynchronous Radiation Imager | Operational
| A multiple channel radiation imager, one of the primary instruments aboard FY-4. Technically featured by a precisely designed two-mirror structure, capable of accurate and flexible sensing in two dimensions, and minute-level fast sector scanning. Frequent Earth imaging over 14 bands with off-axis three reflections of the primary optic system. On-board black body available for IR calibrations at very short time intervals. | n/a | |
AHI
Advanced Himawari Imager | Operational
| Measures cloud cover, cloud motion, cloud height, cloud properties, water vapour, rainfalll, sea surface temperatures and Earth radiation, dust, aerosols, volcanic ash, fires, snow and ice cover. | n/a | |
AIRS
Atmospheric Infra-red Sounder | Operational
| High spectral resolution measurement of temperature and humidity profiles in the atmosphere. Long-wave Earth surface emissivity. Cloud diagnostics. Trace gas profiles. Surface temperatures. | Medium-resolution IR spectrometer | |
AMI
Advanced Meteorological Imager | Operational
| Continuous monitoring capability for the near real-time generation of high-resolution meteorological products and long-term change analysis of land/sea surface temperature and cloud coverage. | n/a | |
AMSR2
Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 | Operational
+/-0.58 degrees C | Measurements of water vapour, cloud liquid water, precipitation, winds, sea surface temperature, sea ice concentration, snow cover, soil moisture. | Multi-purpose imaging MW radiometer | |
AVHRR/3
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer/3 | Operational
| Measurements of land and sea surface temperature, cloud cover, snow and ice cover, soil moisture and vegetation indices. Data also used for volcanic eruption monitoring. | n/a | |
COCTS
China Ocean Colour & Temperature Scanner | Operational
| Ocean chlorophyll, ocean yellow substance absorbance, Sea-ice surface temperature. | n/a | |
GMI
GPM Microwave Imager | Operational
| Measures rainfall rates over oceans and land, combined rainfall structure and surface rainfall rates with associated latent heating. Used to produce three hour, daily, and monthly total rainfall maps over oceans and land. | Multi-purpose imaging MW radiometer | |
HIRS/4
High Resolution Infra-red Sounder/4 | Operational
| Atmospheric temperature profiles and data on cloud parameters, humidity soundings, water vapour, total ozone content, and surface temperatures. Same as HIRS/3, with 10 km IFOV. | Narrow-band channel IR radiometer | |
IASI
Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer | Operational
+/-0.7 degrees Kelvin | Measures tropospheric moisture and temperature, column integrated contents of ozone, carbon monoxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other minor gases which affect tropospheric chemistry. Also measures sea surface and land temperature. | Medium-resolution IR spectrometer | |
IKFS-2
IR-Fourier spectrometer | Operational
| Atmospheric temperature/humidity profiles, data on cloud parameters, water vapour & ozone column amounts, surface temperature. | n/a | |
Imager
Imager | Operational
| Measures cloud cover, atmospheric radiance, winds, atmospheric stability, rainfall estimates. Used to provide severe storm warnings/ monitoring day and night (type, amount, storm features). | n/a | |
IRAS
InfraRed Atmospheric Sounder | Operational
| Atmospheric sounding for weather forecasting. | Narrow-band channel IR radiometer | |
MODIS
MODerate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer | Operational
| Data on biological and physical processes on the surface of the Earth and in the lower atmosphere, and on global dynamics. Surface temperatures of land and ocean, chlorophyll fluorescence, land cover measurements, cloud cover (day and night). | n/a | |
MSU-GS
Multispectral scanning imager-radiometer | Operational
| Measurements of cloud cover, cloud top height, precipitation, cloud motion, albedo, vegetation, convection, air mass analysis, tropopause monitoring, stability monitoring, total ozone and surface temperature, fire detection. | n/a | |
MSU-GS/VE
Multispectral scanning imager-radiometer | Operational
| Operational metrology, hydrology, climate monitoring and environmental monitoring | n/a | |
MSU-MR
Low-resolution multispectral scanning imager-radiometer | Operational
| Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection. | n/a | |
MTVZA-GY
Scanning microwave imager-sounder | Operational
| Atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles, precipitation, sea-level wind speed, snow/ice coverage. | n/a | |
MWRI
Micro-Wave Radiation Imager | Operational
| All weather observations of precipitation, cloud features, vegetation, soil moisture sea ice, etc. | Multi-purpose imaging MW radiometer | |
MWRI
Microwave Radiometer Imager | Operational
| Ocean wind and temperature measurements. | Multi-purpose imaging MW radiometer | |
SEVIRI
Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infra-Red Imager | Operational
| Measurements of cloud cover, cloud top height, precipitation, cloud motion, vegetation, radiation fluxes, convection, air mass analysis, cirrus cloud discrimination, tropopause monitoring, stability monitoring, total ozone and sea surface temperature. | n/a | |
SGLI
Second-generation Global Imager | Operational
+/-0.8 | Medium resolution multi-spectral imaging of land, ocean and atmosphere. SGLI-VNR is an optical sensor capable of multi-channel nadir observation at wavelengths from near-UV to NIR and forward or backward polarization observation at red and near infrared wavelengths (Push-broom scanning). SGLI-IRS is an optical sensor capable of multi-channel nadir observation at wavelengths from SWIR to TIR wavelengths (Cross-track scanning). | n/a | |
SLSTR
Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer | Operational
| Marine and land services. | n/a | |
Sounder
Sounder | Operational
| Atmospheric soundings and data on atmospheric stability and thermal gradient winds. | Narrow-band channel IR radiometer | |
Sounder (INSAT)
IR Sounder | Operational
| Atmospheric soundings, atmospheric stability, thermal gradient winds. | Narrow-band channel IR radiometer | |
SSTM-1 (Oceansat-3)
Sea Surface Temperature Monitor-1 | Operational
| TIR and OCM combination will support joint analysis for operational potential fishing zones. | n/a | |
VIIRS
Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite | Operational
| Global observations of land, ocean, and atmosphere parameters: cloud/weather imagery, sea-surface temperature, ocean colour, land surface vegetation indices. | n/a | |
VIRR
Multispectral Visible and Infra-red Scan Radiometer (10 channels) | Operational
| Multispectral Visible and Infra-red Scan Radiometer. | n/a | |
VISSR-2
Stretched Visible and Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer-2 | Operational
| Meteorological. | n/a | |
AMSR3
Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 3 | Being developed
| Measurements of water vapour, cloud liquid water, precipitation including snowfall, winds, sea surface temperature, sea ice concentration, snow cover, soil moisture. | Multi-purpose imaging MW radiometer | |
CWFMS
Canadian Wildland Fire Monitoring Sensor | Being developed
| Measurements are: Fire Radiative Power (FRP), hotspot locations, rate of spread, burned area mapping. Data products generated: 1) Fire maps, showing location, extent, and timing of forest fire events; 2) Fire characteristics, such as fire line intensity, rate of spread and fuel consumption; 3) Plume dynamics through smoke transport maps and plume heights; 4) Mass of carbon released into atmosphere. | n/a | |
FCI
Flexible Combined Imager | Being developed
| Measurements of cloud cover, cloud top height, precipitation, cloud motion, vegetation, radiation fluxes, convection, air mass analysis, cirrus cloud discrimination, tropopause monitoring, stability monitoring, total ozone and sea surface temperature. | n/a | |
GEOXO Imager
GEO Extended Operations Imager | Being developed
| Detects clouds, cloud properties, water vapour, land and sea surface temperatures, dust, aerosols, volcanic ash, fires, total ozone, snow and ice cover, vegetation index. | n/a | |
GEOXO Sounder
GEO Extended Operations Hyperspectral Infrared Sounder | Being developed
| | n/a | |
IASI-NG
Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer - New Generation | Being developed
+/-0.3 degrees Kelvin | Measures profiles of atmospheric temperature, humidity, ozone, carbon monoxide, columns of methane, nitrous oxide, and other minor gases, and sea, ice, and land surface temperature and emissivity. Provides information on aeorols and cloud: fractional coverage, phase, cloud top height (input to Polar AMVs) and particle size. Prime applications: NWP, AC/AQ, climate. Secondary applications: NWC, land/ocean surface monitoring. IASI-NG will resume IASI role as internationl standard for satellite inter-calibration (GSICS). | Medium-resolution IR spectrometer | |
Imaging Microwave Radiometer
Imaging Microwave Radiometer | Being developed
| A conical scanning total power radiometer operating in 5 bands (L/C/X/Ku/Ka) to provide high-spatial resolution microwave imaging radiometry measurements and derived products with continuous global coverage and sub-daily revisit in the polar regions and adjacent seas | Multi-purpose imaging MW radiometer | |
IRS
Infra-Red Sounder | Being developed
| Measurements of vertically resolved clear sky atmospheric motion vectors, temperature and water vapour profiles. | Medium-resolution IR spectrometer | |
METimage
Multi Spectral Imager | Being developed
| Operational multi spectral imager for meteorological EPS-SG VIS/IR Imaging Mission (VII): imagery data for global and regional NWP, NWC, and climate monitoring with information on LST, SST, clouds coverage and micro-physics, land surfaces (vegetation, snow/ice, fire), aerosol and atmospheric motion vectors. Provides collocated cloud mask & characterisation as well as intra-pixel heterogeneity to other EPS-SG missions (with larger footprint). | n/a | |
GHMI
Geostationary HiMawari Imager | Approved
| | n/a | |
LTI
Laser Tracking Instrument | Approved
| The aim of MAGIC is to obtain high-resolution measurements in space and time and include the capability to determine the variations in gravity field due to mass change in hydrology, cryosphere, oceanography, solid Earth and climate change signals so as to serve science and operational products including emergency services. | n/a | |
MVIRS
Moderate Resolution Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectroradiometer | Approved
| Measures surface temperature and cloud and ice cover. Used for snow and flood monitoring and surface temperature. | n/a | |
Advanced MSU-MR
Advanced Multispectral scanning imager-radiometer | Proposed
| Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection. | n/a | |
IKFS-3
Advanced Fourier spectrometer | Proposed
| Atmospheric temperature/humidity profiles, data on cloud parameters, water vapour & ozone column amounts, surface temperature. | n/a | |
MTVZA-GY-MP
Advanced Scanning microwave imager-sounder | Proposed
| Atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles, precipitation, sea-level wind speed, snow/ice coverage. | n/a | |
AMSR-E
Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS | No longer operational
+/-0.5 degrees C | Measurements of water vapour, cloud liquid water, precipitation, winds, sea surface temperature, sea ice concentration, snow cover and soil moisture. Instrument stopped functioning 4th October 2011. | Multi-purpose imaging MW radiometer | |