Instrument | Status/ Accuracy | Instrument Description | Measurement Technology | Timeline |
AIRS | 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 |  |
ASTER | Operational | Surface and cloud imaging with high spatial resolution, stereoscopic observation of local topography, cloud heights, volcanic plumes, and generation of local surface digital elevation maps. Surface temperature and emissivity. ASTER SWIR detectors are no longer functioning due to anomalously high SWIR detector temperatures. ASTER SWIR data acquired since April 2008 are not useable, and show saturation of values and severe striping. All attempts to bring the SWIR bands back to life have failed, and no further action is envisioned. | n/a |  |
AVHRR/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 |  |
EMIT | Operational | Imaging spectroscopy from the visible to short wavelength infrared (VSWIR) to determine surface mineral compostion in the Earth's arid land dust source regions. | High-resolution nadir-scanning SW spectrometer |  |
FCI | Operational | Measurements of cloud cover, cloud top height, precipitation, cloud motion, vegetation, radiation fluxes, convection, air mass analysis, cirrus cloud discrimination, tropopause monitoring, stability monitoring, total ozone and sea surface temperature. | n/a |  |
HSI-2 (HJ-2A) | Operational | Hyperspectral measurements for environment and disaster management operations. | n/a |  |
MISR | 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. | n/a |  |
MS | Operational | Vegetation and land cover, land cover change. | n/a |  |
MSU-GS | Operational | Measurements of cloud cover, cloud top height, precipitation, cloud motion, albedo, vegetation, convection, air mass analysis, tropopause monitoring, stability monitoring, total ozone and surface temperature, fire detection. | n/a |  |
MSU-GS/VE | Operational | Operational metrology, hydrology, climate monitoring and environmental monitoring | n/a |  |
MSU-MR | Operational | Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection. | n/a |  |
OLI | Operational | Measures surface radiance, land cover state, and change (e.g., vegetation type). Used as multi-purpose imagery for land applications. | n/a |  |
OLI-2 | Operational | Measures surface radiance, land cover state, and change (e.g., vegetation type). Used as multi-purpose imagery for land applications. | n/a |  |
SEVIRI | Operational | Measurements of cloud cover, cloud top height, precipitation, cloud motion, vegetation, radiation fluxes, convection, air mass analysis, cirrus cloud discrimination, tropopause monitoring, stability monitoring, total ozone and sea surface temperature. | n/a |  |
VISSR-2 | Operational | Meteorological. | n/a |  |
MAIA | Approved +/-0.01 | Pushbroom spectropolarimetric camera on a 2-axis gimbal for multiangle viewing, frequent revisits over targets, and inflight calibration. Major metropolitan areas are sampled with sub-km spatial resolution to study impacts of different types of particulate matter on human health. | n/a |  |
Advanced MSU-MR | Proposed | Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection. | n/a |  |
LandIS | Proposed | Measures surface radiance, land cover state and change (e.g., vegetation type), and longwave termal infrared surface emittance. Used as multi-purpose imagery for land applications. | n/a |  |