CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MISSION SUMMARY - Aqua -
Full Name Aqua (formerly EOS PM-1)
aka EOS PM-1
Status Operational (extended)
Mission Agencies NASA, INPE, JAXA Launch Date 04 May 2002
Mission Links mission site | data access portal EOL Date Sep 2026
EO Portal Info NORAD Catalog # 27424 (TLE)
International Designator 2002-022A
Orbit Type Sun-synchronous Orbit Period 98.8 minutes
Orbit Sense Ascending Orbit Inclination 98.2 deg
Orbit Altitude 705 km Orbit Longitude
Orbit LST 13:50 Repeat Cycle 16 days
Objectives and Applications 6-year nominal mission life, currently in extended operations. Atmospheric dynamics / water and energy cycles, cloud formation, precipitation and radiative properties, air / sea fluxes of energy and moisture, sea ice extent and heat exchange with the atmosphere. The HSB instrument failed on the 5th of February 2003.
Mission Measurements
CategoryParameterInstrument(s)
AtmosphereAerosols MODIS
Atmospheric Humidity Fields AIRS, AMSR-E, AMSU-A, HSB, MODIS
Cloud type, amount and cloud top temperature AIRS, AMSU-A, MODIS
Cloud particle properties and profile AMSR-E, AMSU-A, HSB, MODIS
Liquid water and precipitation rate AIRS, AMSR-E, AMSU-A
Ozone AIRS, MODIS
Radiation budget AIRS, AMSU-A, CERES, MODIS
Trace gases (excluding ozone) AIRS
Atmospheric Temperature Fields AIRS, AMSU-A, MODIS
LandAlbedo and reflectance MODIS
Soil moisture AMSR-E, AMSU-A
Vegetation MODIS
Surface temperature (land) AIRS, AMSU-A, MODIS
Multi-purpose imagery (land) MODIS
OceanOcean colour/biology MODIS
Ocean surface winds AMSR-E, AMSU-A
Surface temperature (ocean) AIRS, AMSR-E, MODIS
Multi-purpose imagery (ocean) MODIS
Snow & IceSnow cover, edge and depth AIRS, AMSR-E, AMSU-A, MODIS
Sea ice cover, edge and thickness AIRS, AMSR-E, AMSU-A, MODIS
Mission Instruments
AIRS - Atmospheric Infra-red Sounder
AMSR-E - Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS
AMSU-A - Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A
CERES - Cloud and the Earth's Radiant Energy System
HSB - Humidity Sounder for Brazil
MODIS - MODerate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
OpenSearch Datasets Selected IDN OpenSearch Results (search all 985 )
ABoVE: Angular-corrected MODIS MAIAC Reflectance across Alaska and Canada, 2000-2017
ABoVE: Burn Severity, Fire Progression, and Field Data, NWT, Canada, 2015-2016
ABoVE: Burn Severity, Fire Progression, Landcover and Field Data, NWT, Canada, 2014
ABoVE: Burned Area, Depth, and Combustion for Alaska and Canada, 2001-2019
ABoVE: Corrected MODIS MAIAC Reflectance at Tower Sites, Alaska and Canada, 2000-2016
ABoVE: Dall Sheep Response to Snow and Landscape Covariates, Alaska, 2005-2008
ABoVE: Environmental Conditions During Fall Moose Hunting Seasons, Alaska, 2000-2016
ABoVE: Fractional Open Water Cover for Pan-Arctic and ABoVE-Domain Regions, 2002-2015
ABoVE: High Resolution Cloud-Free Snow Cover Extent and Snow Depth, Alaska, 2001-2017
ABoVE: Ignitions, Burned Area, and Emissions of Fires in AK, YT, and NWT, 2001-2018

Selected FedEO OpenSearch Results (view all 210 results: browser , table )
Aqua/AMSR-E L2 AMSR2 Format Soil Moisture Content
Aqua/AMSR-E L3 Sea Surface Wind (1-Month, 0.25 deg)
Aqua/AMSR-E L3 AMSR2 Format Cloud Liquid Water (1-Day, 0.25 deg)
Aqua/AMSR-E L3 AMSR2 Format Sea Ice Concentration (1-Month, 0.25 deg)
Aqua/AMSR-E L3 AMSR2 Format Snow Depth (1-Month, 0.1 deg)
Aqua/AMSR-E L3 AMSR2 Format 10.65GHz Mean for Brightness Temperature (1-Day, 0.25 deg)
Aqua/AMSR-E L3 AMSR2 Format 89.0GHz Mean for Brightness Temperature (1-Day, 0.1 deg)
Aqua/AMSR-E L3 AMSR2 Format 18.7GHz Mean for Brightness Temperature (1-Day, 0.1 deg)
Aqua/AMSR-E L3 36.5GHz-V Mean for Brightness Temperature (1-Month, 0.25 deg)
Aqua/AMSR-E L3 10.65GHz-H Mean for Brightness Temperature (1-Month, 0.25 deg)

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