| 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 |  |
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. | n/a | |
IASI
Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer | Operational
| 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 | |
MLS (EOS-Aura)
Microwave Limb Sounder (EOS-Aura) | Operational
| Measures lower stratospheric temperature and concentration of H2O, O3, ClO, HCl, OH, HNO3, N2O and SO2. | n/a | |
MOPITT
Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere | Operational
| Measurements of CO in the troposphere, running 24/7, 365d of the year. | High-resolution nadir-scanning SW spectrometer | |
SMR
Submillimetre Radiometer | Operational
| Measures global distributions of ozone and species of importance for ozone chemistry ClO, HNO3, H2O, N2O, (HO2, H2O2). Measures temperature in the height range 15 - 100 km. | n/a | |
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 | |
UVNS (Sentinel-5 precursor)
TROPOMI | Operational
| Supporting atmospheric composition and air quality monitoring services. | 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 | |
IASI-NG
Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer - New Generation | Being developed
| 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. | n/a | |
Scanning Spectrometer (GeoCarb)
Scanning Spectrometer (GeoCarb) | Being developed
+/-0.01 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 | |
UVNS (Sentinel-5)
Ultra-violet Visible Near-infrared Shortwave-infrared spectrometer | Being developed
| Supporting atmospheric composition and air quality monitoring services. Measurements of atmospheric trace gases, primarily O3, NO2, SO2, HCHO, CH4 and CO. | High-resolution nadir-scanning SW spectrometer | |
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. | High-resolution nadir-scanning SW spectrometer | |
TGSP
Trace Gas Spectrometer | Proposed
| Trace gas measurements. | n/a | |
TES
Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer | No longer operational
| 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 | |