Wind profile (horizontal) Measurements Made by Earth Observation Satellites

CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS

Measurements > Atmosphere >
Atmospheric Winds >
Wind profile (horizontal)

Measurement Definition*: Vertical profile of the horizontal vector component (2D) of the 3D wind vector - Requested from surface to TOA (layers: LT, HT, LS, HS&M) - Physical unit: [ m/s ] - Accuracy unit: [ m/s ] intended as vector error, i.e. the module of the vector difference between the observed vector and the true vector.

Thematic Links
ECV Wind speed and direction (upper-air)

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
ACE-FTS Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) Fourier Transform Spectrometer	Operational	Measure and understand the chemical processes that control the distribution of ozone in the Earth's atmosphere, especially at high altitudes.	n/a
Advanced MI Advanced Meteorological Imager	Operational	Continuous monitoring capability for the near real-time generation of high-resolution meteorological products and long-term change analysis of sea surface temperature and cloud coverage.	Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer
AHI Advanced Himawari Imager	Operational	Measures cloud cover, cloud motion, cloud height, cloud properties, water vapour, rainfalll, sea surface temperatures and Earth radiation, dust, aerosols, volcanic ash, fires, snow and ice cover.	Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer
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
Imager (INSAT 3D) Very High Resolution Radiometer	Operational	Cloud cover, severe storm warnings/monitoring day and night (type, amount, storm features), atmospheric radiance winds, atmospheric stability rainfall.	Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer
Limb Imager Limb Imager	Operational	designed to measure Noctilucent Clouds and atmospheric airglow from the Oxygen A-band	n/a
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.	n/a
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
SEVIRI Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infra-Red 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
WindRAD Wind Radar	Operational	Measures sea-surface wind.	n/a
FCI Flexible Combined Imager	Being developed	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
GEOXO Imager GEO Extended Operations Imager	Being developed		Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer
HyperCube Instrument HyperCube Instrument	Being developed	Designed to measure the speed, direction, and elevation of wind in Earth's atmosphere. Contains more vertical layers of wind vector data at fine spatial resolution, resulting in more accurate data than other available solutions.	n/a
IRS Infra-Red Sounder	Being developed	Measurements of vertically resolved clear sky atmospheric motion vectors, temperature and water vapour profiles.	n/a
MVIRS Moderate Resolution Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectroradiometer	Approved	Measures surface temperature and cloud and ice cover. Used for snow and flood monitoring and surface temperature.	Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer

* Description adapted from WMO.