| Instrument | Agency | Missions | Status | Type | Measurements &
applications | Technical characteristics |
ALADIN-2
Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument - 2 | ESA | Current: -
Future: EPS-Aeolus
Complete: - | Proposed | Lidars | Global wind profiles (single line-of-sight) for an improved weather prediction. |
| Waveband: |
UV |
| Spatial resolution: | |
| Swath width: | |
| Accuracy: | |
| Data Access: | |
| Data Format: | |
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AOS-Sky Lidar
Atmosphere Observing System-Sky lidar | NASA | Current: -
Future: AOS-Sky
Complete: - | Proposed | Lidars | Atmospheric lidar for profiling of aerosols and thin ice clouds |
| Waveband: | 532 nm (polarization-sensitive), 1064 nm (polarization sensitive), VIS - NIR
VIS, NIR |
| Spatial resolution: | 100 m horizontal, 10 m vertical
Best resolution: 100 m |
| Swath width: | Nadir only |
| Accuracy: | |
| Data Access: | Open Access |
| Data Format: | TBD |
|
ATLAS
Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System | NASA | Current: ICESat-2
Future: -
Complete: - | Operational | Lidars | Provide date on ice sheet height and sea ice thickness, land altitude, aerosol height distributions, cloud height and boundary layer height. |
| Waveband: | VIS: Laser emits at 532 nm
VIS |
| Spatial resolution: | 6 spots 15 m in diameter separated by 1.5 cm along track
Best resolution: 0.15 m |
| Swath width: | |
| Accuracy: | Aerosol profile: 20%, Ice elevation: 20 cm, Cloud top height: 75 m, Land elevation: 20 cm, geoid: 5 m |
| Data Access: | Open Access |
| Data Format: | ASCII |
|
ATLID
ATmospheric LIDar | ESA | Current: EarthCARE
Future: -
Complete: - | Operational | Lidars | Derivation of cloud and aerosol properties - Measurement of molecular and particle backscatter in Rayleigh, co-polar and cross-polar Mie channels. |
| Waveband: | Laser at 355 nm
UV |
| Spatial resolution: | 300 m horizontal (TBC) |
| Swath width: | |
| Accuracy: | |
| Data Access: | Open Access |
| Data Format: | HDF5 |
|
GEDI
Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation Lidar | NASA | Current: GEDI-on-ISS
Future: -
Complete: - | No longer operational | Lidars | This project will use a laser-based system to study a range of climates, including the observation of the forest canopy structure over the tropics, and the tundra in high northern latitudes. The instrument was placed into storage on the ISS on March 17, 2023, where it is expected to remain for 13-18 months, before continuing operations from 2024. |
| Waveband: |
NIR |
| Spatial resolution: | |
| Swath width: | |
| Accuracy: | |
| Data Access: | Open Access |
| Data Format: | |
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Laser Radar
Laser Radar | CAST | Current: Goumang
Future: -
Complete: - | Operational | Lidars | Detect and measure vegetation biomass, atmospheric aerosol and chlorophyll fluorescence, and can also obtain the remote-sensing information of global forest carbon sinks. |
| Waveband: | |
| Spatial resolution: | |
| Swath width: | |
| Accuracy: | |
| Data Access: | |
| Data Format: | |
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Micro-LiDaR
Micro-LiDAR | AIRMO | Current: -
Future: AIRMO Constellation
Complete: - | Being developed | Lidars | |
| Waveband: | Central wavelength: 1.5 μm
SWIR |
| Spatial resolution: |
Best resolution: 100 m |
| Swath width: | |
| Accuracy: | |
| Data Access: | Constrained Access |
| Data Format: | |
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MOLI Lidar
MOLI Lidar | JAXA | Current: -
Future: MOLI-on-ISS
Complete: - | Being developed | Lidars | |
| Waveband: | 1064nm (YAG), 2 beam
|
| Spatial resolution: | |
| Swath width: | Diameter of footprint: 25m, 50m between footprints |
| Accuracy: | |
| Data Access: | |
| Data Format: | |
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