| Instrument | Status/
Accuracy | Instrument Description | Measurement Technology | Timeline |
ACE-FTS
Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) Fourier Transform Spectrometer | Operational
| Measure and understand the chemical processes that control the distribution of ozone in the Earth's atmosphere, especially at high altitudes. | n/a |  |
ATLAS
Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System | Operational
| Provide date on ice sheet height and sea ice thickness, land altitude, aerosol height distributions, cloud height and boundary layer height. | n/a | |
CALIOP
Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization | Operational
| Two-wavelength, polarisation lidar capable of providing aerosol and cloud profiles and properties. | n/a | |
MAESTRO
Measurements of Aerosol Extinction in the Stratosphere and Troposphere Retrieved by Occultation | Operational
| Chemical processes involved in the depletion of the ozone layer, and now including a high quality water vapour data product. | 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 | |
NACHOS Hyperspectral Imager
NACHOS Hyperspectral Imager | Operational
| | n/a | |
OCM (Oceansat-3)
Ocean Colour Monitor (Oceansat-3) | Operational
| Ocean colour data, Estimation of phytoplankton concentration, identification of potential fishing zones, assessment of primary productivity. | n/a | |
OLCI
Ocean and Land Colour Imager | Operational
| Marine and land services. | n/a | |
OMI
Ozone Measuring Instrument | Operational
| Mapping of ozone columns, key air quality components (NO2, SO2, BrO, OClO and aerosols), measurements of cloud pressure and coverage, global distribution and trends in UV-B radiation. | n/a | |
OMPS-L
Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Limb Profiler | Operational
+/-0.25 m-1 | Measures high resolution vertical distribution of ozone and aerosols. | n/a | |
OSIRIS
Optical Spectrograph and Infra-Red Imaging System | Operational
| Detects aerosol layers and abundance of species such as O3, NO2, OClO, BrO and NO. Consists of spectrograph and IR imager. | n/a | |
SAGE-III
Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment | Operational
| Limb-viewing measurements of aerosol, O3, H20, NO2, OClO, NO3, temperature and pressure in the stratosphere, upper troposphere, and mesosphere using solar occultation, lunar occultation and limb scatter measurement techniques. | n/a | |
Sounder
Sounder | Operational
| Atmospheric soundings and data on atmospheric stability and thermal gradient winds. | n/a | |
GEOXO Atmospheric Composition
GEO Extended Operations Atmospheric Composition | Being developed
| | n/a | |
SPEXone
Spectro-Polarimeter for Exploration | Being developed
| Polarimeter for measuring aerosol optical properties, clouds and aerosol types. Multi-angle spectro-polarimetry by spectral modulation technology. Distribution and detailed micro-phyiscal properties of atmospheric aerosol. Direct and indirect aerosol radiative forcing and their impact on climate. | n/a | |
ATLID
ATmospheric LIDar | Approved
| Derivation of cloud and aerosol properties - Measurement of molecular and particle backscatter in Rayleigh, co-polar and cross-polar Mie channels. | n/a | |
GHMS
Geostationary HiMawari Sounder | Approved
| | n/a | |
MSI (EarthCARE)
Multi-Spectral Imager (EarthCARE) | Approved
| Observation of cloud properties and aerosol (aerosols to be confirmed). | n/a | |
NIR-SWIR
Multi-spectral Optical Camera - Near & Short Wave Infrared | Approved
| Ocean Colour - Open ocean, coastal & in-land waters. Atmospheric corrections | n/a | |
UVN
UV-VIS-NIR Sounder | Approved
| Measurements of atmospheric trace gases, mainly O3, NO2, SO2, H2CO. The product list is not yet approved, the accuracy summary column lists the breakthrough user requirements. | 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 | |
ALADIN-2
Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument - 2 | Proposed
| Global wind profiles (single line-of-sight) for an improved weather prediction. | n/a | |
HiRDLS
High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder | No longer operational
| Measures atmospheric temperature, concentrations of ozone, water vapour, methane, NOx, N2O, CFCs and other minor species, aerosol concentration, location of polar stratospheric clouds and cloud tops. Currently not collecting data on Aqua. | n/a | |