Instrument | Status/ Accuracy | Instrument Description | Measurement Technology | Timeline |
ABI Advanced Baseline Imager | Operational
| Detects clouds, cloud properties, water vapour, land and sea surface temperatures, dust, aerosols, volcanic ash, fires, total ozone, snow and ice cover, vegetation index. | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
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. | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
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. | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
FCI Flexible Combined Imager | 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. | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
Geoton-L1 (2) Geoton-L1 | Operational
| Multispectral images of land surfaces and Oceans. | High resolution optical imager | |
Imager Imager | Operational
| Measures cloud cover, atmospheric radiance, winds, atmospheric stability, rainfall estimates. Used to provide severe storm warnings/ monitoring day and night (type, amount, storm features). | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
K-line Imager K-line Imager | Operational
| ZACube-2 is fitted with a K-line fire detection imager as its hosted payload. The Imager consists of a combination of two NIR cameras to allow for potential fires to be detected. | High resolution optical imager | |
KMSS Multispectral Imager (VIS) system | Operational
| Multispectral images of land & sea surfaces and ice cover. | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
KShMSA-VR High resolution wide capture multispectral optical sensor | Operational
| Land surface and ocean monitoring | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR 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 | |
MSI (Sentinel-2) Multi-Spectral Instrument (Sentinel-2) | Operational
| Optical high spatial resolution imagery over land and coastal areas for Copernicus operational services. | High resolution optical imager | |
MSS Multispectral imaging system | Operational
| Multispectral images of land & sea surfaces and ice cover. | High resolution optical imager | |
MSU-GS Multispectral scanning imager-radiometer | 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. | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
MSU-GS/VE Multispectral scanning imager-radiometer | Operational
| Operational metrology, hydrology, climate monitoring and environmental monitoring | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
MSU-IK-SR Multi-channel medium and far IR range radiometer | Operational
| Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection. | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
MSU-MR Low-resolution multispectral scanning imager-radiometer | Operational
| Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection. | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
OLCI Ocean and Land Colour Imager | Operational
| Marine and land services. | n/a | |
OLI Operational Land Imager | Operational
| Measures surface radiance, land cover state, and change (e.g., vegetation type). Used as multi-purpose imagery for land applications. | High resolution optical imager | |
OLI-2 Operational Land Imager 2 | Operational
| Measures surface radiance, land cover state, and change (e.g., vegetation type). Used as multi-purpose imagery for land applications. | High resolution optical imager | |
PALSAR-2 Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar-2 | Operational
| Disaster monitoring, land monitoring, agricultural monitoring, natural resource exploration, global forest monitoring, potential use and interferometry. | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
PSS Panchromatic imaging system | Operational
| Panchromatic data for environmental monitoring, agriculture and forestry. | High resolution optical imager | |
SAR (RADARSAT-2) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) C band | Operational
| All-weather images of ocean, ice and land surfaces. Used for monitoring of coastal zones, polar ice, sea ice, sea state, geological features, vegetation and land surface processes. | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
SAR (RCM) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) C band | Operational
| All-weather, C-band data to support ecosystem monitoring, maritime surveillance and disaster management. | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
SLSTR Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer | Operational
| Marine and land services. | n/a | |
TIRS Thermal Infrared Sensor | Operational
| Measures longwave thermal infrared surface emittance, land cover state, and change. Used as multipurpose imagery for land applications. | n/a | |
TIRS-2 Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 | Operational
| Measures longwave thermal infrared surface emittance, land cover state, and change. Used as multipurpose imagery for land applications. TIRS-2 will adhere to the Landsat 8 TIRS instrument performance specifications but will be built to NASA Class-B instrument standards (including a 5-year design life). | n/a | |
VIIRS Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite | Operational
| Global observations of land, ocean, and atmosphere parameters: cloud/weather imagery, sea-surface temperature, ocean colour, land surface vegetation indices. | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
Compact Advanced Payload Wide Swath (CAS500-4) Compact Advanced Payload Wide Swath (CAS500-4) | Being developed
| Agricultural and forest monitoring | High resolution optical imager | |
CWFMS Canadian Wildland Fire Monitoring Sensor | Being developed
| Measurements are: Fire Radiative Power (FRP), hotspot locations, rate of spread, burned area mapping. Data products generated: 1) Fire maps, showing location, extent, and timing of forest fire events; 2) Fire characteristics, such as fire line intensity, rate of spread and fuel consumption; 3) Plume dynamics through smoke transport maps and plume heights; 4) Mass of carbon released into atmosphere. | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
GXI GeoXO Imager | Being developed
| Detects clouds, cloud properties, water vapour, land and sea surface temperatures, dust, aerosols, volcanic ash, fires, total ozone, snow and ice cover, vegetation index. | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
METimage Multi Spectral Imager | Being developed
| Operational multi spectral imager for meteorological EPS-SG VIS/IR Imaging Mission (VII): imagery data for global and regional NWP, NWC, and climate monitoring with information on LST, SST, clouds coverage, height and micro-physics, land surfaces (vegetation, snow/ice, fire), water vapour column, aerosol and atmospheric motion vectors. Provides collocated cloud mask, height & characterisation as well as intra-pixel heterogeneity to other EPS-SG missions (with larger footprint). | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
PALSAR-3 Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar-3 | Being developed
| Disaster monitoring, land monitoring, agricultural monitoring, natural resource exploration, global forest monitoring, potential use and interferometry. | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
Advanced KMSS Advanced Multispectral Imager (VIS) | Proposed
| Multispectral images of land & sea surfaces and ice cover. | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
Advanced MSU-MR Advanced Multispectral scanning imager-radiometer | Proposed
| Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection. | Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer | |
LandIS Landsat Next Instrument Suite | 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. | High resolution optical imager | |