| Instrument | Status/
Accuracy | Instrument Description | Measurement Technology | Timeline |
ACE-FTS
Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) Fourier Transform Spectrometer | Operational
+/-10 ppm | Measure and understand the chemical processes that control the distribution of ozone in the Earth's atmosphere, especially at high altitudes. | Limb-scanning IR spectrometer |  |
AIRS
Atmospheric Infra-red Sounder | Operational
+/-1.5 ppm | High spectral resolution measurement of temperature and humidity profiles in the atmosphere. Long-wave Earth surface emissivity. Cloud diagnostics. Trace gas profiles. Surface temperatures. | n/a | |
CrIS
Cross-track Infrared Sounder | Operational
+/-2 ppm | Daily measurements of vertical atmospheric distribution of temperature, moisture, and pressure. MWIR non-operational on Suomi NPP effective 12 July 2021. | n/a | |
GAS
Greenhouse gases Absorption Spectrometer | Operational
| Measures greenhouse gases. | High-resolution nadir-scanning SW spectrometer | |
HIRS/4
High Resolution Infra-red Sounder/4 | Operational
+/-4 ppm | 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. | n/a | |
IASI
Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer | Operational
+/-2 ppm | 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. | n/a | |
IRAS
InfraRed Atmospheric Sounder | Operational
+/-2 ppm | Atmospheric sounding for weather forecasting. | n/a | |
Spectrometer (OCO-2)
Spectrometer (OCO-2) | Operational
+/-1 ppm | Global measurements of atmospheric CO2 needed to describe the variability of CO2 sources and sinks. | High-resolution nadir-scanning SW spectrometer | |
Spectrometer (OCO-3)
Spectrometer (OCO-3) | Operational
+/-1 ppm | Global measurements of atmospheric CO2 needed to describe the variability of CO2 sources and sinks. | High-resolution nadir-scanning SW spectrometer | |
TANSO-FTS
Thermal And Near infrared Sensor for carbon Observation - Fourier Transform Spectrometer | Operational
+/-2 ppm | CO2 and CH4 distribution. | High-resolution nadir-scanning IR spectrometer | |
TANSO-FTS-2
Thermal And Near infrared Sensor for carbon Observation - Fourier Transform Spectrometer-2 | Operational
| CO2, CH4, and CO distribution. | High-resolution nadir-scanning IR spectrometer | |
CO2I
Integrated CO2 & NO2 Imaging spectrometer | Being developed
| Pushbroom scanning spectrometer to provide relatively high spatial resolution CO2, CH4 and NO2 observations in support of estimating anthropogenic emissions of CO2 and CH4 in Copernicus. In addition, high quality NO2 and solar-induced fluorescence will be operationally delivered. | High-resolution nadir-scanning SW spectrometer | |
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 | |
Microcarb
Microcarb | Being developed
| Measurement of CO2 concentration using CO2 absorption bands at 1607nm and 2046nm | High-resolution nadir-scanning SW spectrometer | |
Scanning Spectrometer (GeoCarb)
Scanning Spectrometer (GeoCarb) | Being developed
+/-1 ppm | GeoCarb Mission employs a 4-channel slit imaging spectrometer that measures reflected IR sunlight at wavelengths 1.61µm and 2.06µm for XCO2, and 2.32µm for XCH4 and XCO. The fourth channel, 0.76µm, measures O2 column concentration and SIF, and it also provides valuable information on aerosol and cloud contamination. The North/South (N/S) extent of the scan is fixed at a 4.4° field of view, which maps to 25° latitude or 2800 km at the Sub-Satellite Point (SSP). There are 1016 N/S samples with 4.1 km spatial resolution, spaced 2.7 km apart on center. The measurements are acquired in an East to West (E/W), 0.3825s step, and 4.08s stare (integration) mode, with 3 km sampling EW steps and 5.4 km resolution at SSP. | High-resolution nadir-scanning SW spectrometer | |
TANSO-3
Total Anthropogenic and Natural emissions mapping SpectrOmeter-3 | Being developed
| | High-resolution nadir-scanning IR spectrometer | |
COSIS
COSIS | Approved
| Independent verification of reported emissions as a cornerstone toward emission accounting and reduction measures such as agreed on in the Paris climate agreement. In 2018, coal-fired power plants accounted for 30% of the global man-made carbon dioxide emissions. | High-resolution nadir-scanning IR spectrometer | |
TGSP
Trace Gas Spectrometer | Proposed
| Trace gas measurements. | n/a | |
TES
Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer | No longer operational
+/-1.3 ppm | 3D profiles on a global scale of all infra-red active species from surface to lower stratosphere. Measures greenhouse gas concentrations, tropospheric ozone, acid rain precursors, gas exchange leading to stratospheric ozone depletion. | High-resolution nadir-scanning IR spectrometer | |