| Instrument | Agency | Missions | Status | Type | Measurements &
applications | Technical characteristics |
Advanced Radiomet
Advanced Radio-occultation receiver | ROSHYDROMET | Current: -
Future: Meteor-MP N1, Meteor-MP N2, Meteor-MP N3
Complete: - | Proposed | Atmospheric temperature and humidity sounders | Atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles with high vertical resolution. |
| Waveband: |
N/A |
| Spatial resolution: | |
| Swath width: | |
| Accuracy: | |
| Data Access: | Constrained Access |
| Data Format: | |
|
AIRS
Atmospheric Infra-red Sounder | NASA | Current: Aqua
Future: -
Complete: - | Operational | Atmospheric temperature and humidity sounders | High spectral resolution measurement of temperature and humidity profiles in the atmosphere. Long-wave Earth surface emissivity. Cloud diagnostics. Trace gas profiles. Surface temperatures. |
| Waveband: | VIS - TIR: 0.4 - 1.7 µm, 3.4 - 15.4 µm, Has approximately 2382 bands from VIS to TIR
VIS, NIR, MWIR, TIR |
| Spatial resolution: | 1.1 degree (13 x 13 km at nadir)
Best resolution: 13000 m |
| Swath width: | +/-48.95 degrees |
| Accuracy: | Humidity: 20%, Temperature: 1 K |
| Data Access: | Open Access |
| Data Format: | HDF-EOS |
|
AMSU-A
Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A | NOAA (UKSA) | Current: Metop-B, Metop-C
Future: -
Complete: Metop-A, NOAA-16, NOAA-17, NOAA-18, NOAA-19, NOAA-15 | Operational | Atmospheric temperature and humidity sounders | All-weather night-day temperature sounding to an altitude of 45 km. |
| Waveband: | Microwave: 15 channels, 23.8 - 89.0 GHz
MW |
| Spatial resolution: | 48 km
Best resolution: 48000 m |
| Swath width: | 2054 km |
| Accuracy: | Temperature profile: 2 K, humidity: 3 kg/m2, ice & snow cover: 10% |
| Data Access: | Open Access |
| Data Format: | Native, BUFR |
|
AMSU-A
Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A | NASA | Current: Aqua
Future: -
Complete: - | Operational | Atmospheric temperature and humidity sounders | All-weather night-day temperature sounding to an altitude of 45 km. AMSU-A on Aqua is still partially operational, with 9 of the 15 channels working and collecting data. |
| Waveband: | Microwave: 15 channels, 23.8 - 89.0 GHz
MW |
| Spatial resolution: | 48 km |
| Swath width: | 2054 km |
| Accuracy: | Temperature profile: 2 K, humidity: 3 kg/m2, ice & snow cover: 10% |
| Data Access: | Open Access |
| Data Format: | HDF-EOS |
|
AOPOD
Atmosphere Occultation and Precision Orbit Determination | KASI | Current: KOMPSAT-5
Future: -
Complete: - | No longer operational | Atmospheric temperature and humidity sounders | A spaceborne dual-frequency GPS receiver for Precision Orbit Determination (POD) and GPS radio occultation (RO) measurements |
| Waveband: | |
| Spatial resolution: | |
| Swath width: | |
| Accuracy: | |
| Data Access: | |
| Data Format: | |
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ATMS
Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder | NASA (NOAA) | Current: NOAA-21
Future: JPSS-3, JPSS-4, QuickSounder, Suomi NPP, NOAA-20
Complete: - | Operational | Atmospheric temperature and humidity sounders | Collects microwave radiance data that when combined with the CrIS data will permit calculation of atmospheric temperature and water vapour profiles. |
| Waveband: | Microwave: 22 bands, 23-184 GHz
MW |
| Spatial resolution: | 5.2 - 1.1 deg |
| Swath width: | 2300 km |
| Accuracy: | 0.75 K - 3.60 K |
| Data Access: | Open Access |
| Data Format: | NetCDF-4, HDF5 |
|
CrIS
Cross-track Infrared Sounder | NOAA | Current: NOAA-21
Future: JPSS-3, JPSS-4, Suomi NPP, NOAA-20
Complete: - | Operational | Atmospheric temperature and humidity sounders | Daily measurements of vertical atmospheric distribution of temperature, moisture, and pressure. MWIR non-operational on Suomi NPP effective 12 July 2021. |
| Waveband: | MWIR - TIR: 3.92 - 4.4 µm, 5.7 - 8.62 µm, 9.1 - 14.7 µm, 1300 spectral channels
MWIR, TIR, FIR |
| Spatial resolution: | IFOV 14 km diameter, 1 km vertical layer resolution
Best resolution: 14000 m |
| Swath width: | 2200 km |
| Accuracy: | Temperature profiles: to 0.9 K, Moisture profiles: 20 - 35%, Pressure profiles: 1% |
| Data Access: | Open Access |
| Data Format: | HDF5 |
|
GHMS
Geostationary HiMawari Sounder | JMA | Current: -
Future: Himawari-10
Complete: - | Approved | Atmospheric temperature and humidity sounders | |
| Waveband: | LWIR: 680 - 1095 cm^-1
MWIR: 1689 - 2250 cm^-1
MWIR, TIR |
| Spatial resolution: | |
| Swath width: | Full disk, Japan Area : fixed area, one Target Area : flexible area |
| Accuracy: | |
| Data Access: | |
| Data Format: | |
|
GIIRS
Geostationary Interferometric Infrared Sounder | NSMC-CMA (CNSA) | Current: FY-4B, FY-4C
Future: FY-4D, FY-4E, FY-4F, FY-4A
Complete: - | Operational | Atmospheric temperature and humidity sounders | Measurements of three dimensional atmospheric structure. Large-area, continuous, fast, and accurate vertical air soundings of temperature and humidity. Subsequent units have slightly different specifications. |
| Waveband: | LWIR: 700-1130 cm-1, 538 channels
S/MIR: 1650-2250 cm-1, 375 channels
VIS: 0.55-0.75 µm, 1 channel
VIS, SWIR, MWIR |
| Spatial resolution: | LWIR/S/MIR: 8km SSP
VIS: 0.5km SSP
Best resolution: 4000 m |
| Swath width: | |
| Accuracy: | 0.5k (1σ) radiation, 5 ppm (1σ) spectrum |
| Data Access: | Constrained Access |
| Data Format: | L-1 data: HDF 5.0 |
|
GNOS-1
GNSS Radio Occultation Sounder-1 | NSMC-CMA (CNSA) | Current: FY-3D | Operational | Atmospheric temperature and humidity sounders | Atmospheric sounding for weather forecasting. |
| Waveband: |
L-Band |
| Spatial resolution: | 0.5 km vertical
Best resolution: 500 m |
| Swath width: | |
| Accuracy: | |
| Data Access: | Open Access |
| Data Format: | L-1 data: NC |
|