| Instrument | Status/
Accuracy | Instrument Description | Measurement Technology | Timeline |
ACDL
Aerosol and Carbon Detection Lidar | Operational
| For CO2 a pulsed dual-wavelength lidar alternately emits two pulsed lasers near 1572 nm in a sequential manner one in the CO2 absorption line and one off the line. For aerosol detection a high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) at 532 and 1064 nm. | Atmospheric lidar |  |
AMI
Advanced Meteorological Imager | Operational
| Continuous monitoring capability for the near real-time generation of high-resolution meteorological products and long-term change analysis of land/sea surface temperature and cloud coverage. | n/a | |
AVHRR/3
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer/3 | Operational
| Measurements of land and sea surface temperature, cloud cover, snow and ice cover, soil moisture and vegetation indices. Data also used for volcanic eruption monitoring. | n/a | |
DPC-2
Directional Polarization Camera - 2 | Operational
| To measure aerosol and cloud microphysical parameters and the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) | n/a | |
HARP2
Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter | Operational
| Polarimeter for measuring aerosol optical properties, clouds and aerosol types. | Multi-channel/direction/polarisation radiometer | |
MISR
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer | Operational
| Measurements of global surface albedo, aerosol and vegetation properties. Also provides multi-angle bidirectional data (1% angle-to-angle accuracy) for cloud cover and reflectances at the surface and aerosol opacities. Global and local modes. | Multi-channel/direction/polarisation radiometer | |
MODIS
MODerate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer | Operational
| Data on biological and physical processes on the surface of the Earth and in the lower atmosphere, and on global dynamics. Surface temperatures of land and ocean, chlorophyll fluorescence, land cover measurements, cloud cover (day and night). | n/a | |
MSU-MR
Low-resolution multispectral scanning imager-radiometer | Operational
| Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection. | n/a | |
OLCI
Ocean and Land Colour Imager | Operational
| Marine and land services. | n/a | |
Sounder
Sounder | Operational
| Atmospheric soundings and data on atmospheric stability and thermal gradient winds. | n/a | |
SPEXone
Spectro-Polarimeter for Exploration | Operational
| Polarimeter for measuring aerosol optical properties, clouds and aerosol types. Multi-angle spectro-polarimetry by spectral modulation technology. Distribution and detailed micro-phyiscal properties of atmospheric aerosol. Direct and indirect aerosol radiative forcing and their impact on climate. A second instance of this instrument is in development. | Multi-channel/direction/polarisation radiometer | |
ACX
GeoXO Atmospheric Composition Instrument | Being developed
| | n/a | |
MSI (EarthCARE)
Multi-Spectral Imager (EarthCARE) | Approved
| Observation of cloud properties and aerosol (aerosols to be confirmed). | n/a | |
Advanced MSU-MR
Advanced Multispectral scanning imager-radiometer | Proposed
| Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection. | n/a | |