Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Civilian Satellite Specifications." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Opportunities to Improve Representation of Clouds and Aerosols in Climate Models with Classified Observing Systems: Proceedings of a Workshop: Abbreviated Version. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23527.
×
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Civilian Satellite Specifications." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Opportunities to Improve Representation of Clouds and Aerosols in Climate Models with Classified Observing Systems: Proceedings of a Workshop: Abbreviated Version. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23527.
×
TABLE E.1 Specifications of Civilian Satellites for Deriving Cloud and Aerosol Data
| Instrument Name Short | Instrument Name Full | Instrument Agencies | Instrument Status | Instrument Type | Measurements and Applications | Waveband Categories | Spatial Resolution | Swath Width | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MODIS | MODerate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer | NASA | Operational | Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR) and ocean color instruments | 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). | VIS, NIR, SWIR, MWIR, TIR | Cloud cover: 250 m (day) and 1,000 m (night), Surface temperature: 1,000 m | 2,330 km | LEO-sun-sync |
| MISR | Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer | NASA | Operational | Multiple direction/polarization radiometers | Measurements of global surface albedo, aerosol, and vegetation properties. Also provides multiangle bidirectional data (1% angle-to-angle accuracy) for cloud cover and reflectances at the surface and aerosol opacities. Global and local modes. | UV, VIS, NIR | 275 m, 550 m, or 1.1 km, Summation modes available on selected cameras/bands: 1 × 1, 2 × 2, 4 × 4, 1 × 4. 1 pixel = 275 × 275 m | 380 km common overlap of all 9 cameras | LEO-sun-sync |
| CPR (CloudSat) | Cloud Profiling Radar | NASA | Operational | Cloud profile and rain radars | Primary goal to provide data needed to evaluate and improve the way clouds are represented in global climate models. Measures vertical profile of clouds. | MW, W-Band | Vertical: 500 m, Cross-track: 1.4 km, Along-track: 2.5 km | Instantaneous Footprint < 2 km | LEO-sun-sync |
| AVHRR/3 | Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer/3 | NOAA | Operational | Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR) | 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. | VIS, NIR, SWIR, MWIR, TIR, FIR | 1.1 km | 3,000 km approx, Ensures full global coverage twice daily | LEO-sun-sync |
| CALIOP | Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization | NASA | Operational | Lidars | Two-wavelength, polarization lidar capable of providing aerosol and cloud profiles and properties. | VIS, NIR | Vertical sampling: 30 m, 0-40 km | 333 m along-track | LEO-sun-sync |
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Civilian Satellite Specifications." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Opportunities to Improve Representation of Clouds and Aerosols in Climate Models with Classified Observing Systems: Proceedings of a Workshop: Abbreviated Version. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23527.
×
| SEVIRI | Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infra-Red Imager | EUMETSAT (ESA) | Operational | Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR) | 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. | VIS, NIR, SWIR, MWIR, TIR | HRV = 1 km, All other channels = 3 km (spatial sampling distance at SSP) | 9 km swath scanning E-W, moving up S-N a swath width at the end of each swath. Full Disc Coverage (FDC) or Local Area Coverage (LAC) possible. | GEO |
| ALADIN | Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument | ESA | Being developed | Lidars | Global wind profiles (single line-of-sight) for an improved weather prediction. | UV | One wind profile every 200 km along track, averaged over 50 km | Along line 285 km parallel to satellite ground track | LEO-sun-sync |
| GOME-2 | Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment - 2 | EUMETSAT (ESA) | Operational | Atmospheric chemistry | Measurement of total column amounts and stratospheric and tropospheric profiles of ozone. Also amounts of H20, N02, OCIO, BrO, S02, and HCHO. | UV, VIS, NIR | Horizontal: 40 × 80 km (1,920 km swath) to 40 × 10 km (for polarization monitoring) | 120-1,920 km | LEO-sun-sync |
| IASI | Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer | CNES (EUMETSAT) | Operational | Atmospheric temperature and humidity sounders and atmospheric chemistry | Measures tropospheric moisture and temperature, column integrated contents of ozone, carbon monoxide, methane, dinitrogen oxide, and other minor gases that affect tropospheric chemistry. Also measures sea surface and land temperature. | MWIR, TIR | Vertical: 1-30 km, Horizontal: 25 km | 2,052 km | LEO-sun-sync |
| OLI | Operational Land Imager | USGS (NASA) | Operational | Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR) | Measures surface radiance, land cover state and change (e.g., vegetation type). Used as multipurpose imagery for land applications. | VIS, NIR, SWIR | Pan: 15 m, VIS -SWIR: 30 m | 185 km | LEO-sun-sync |
| TIRS | Thermal Infrared Sensor | USGS (NASA) | Operational | Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR) | Measures surface emittance, lands cover state and change). Used as multipurpose imagery for land applications. | TIR | 100 m | 185 km | LEO-sun-sync |
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Civilian Satellite Specifications." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Opportunities to Improve Representation of Clouds and Aerosols in Climate Models with Classified Observing Systems: Proceedings of a Workshop: Abbreviated Version. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23527.
×
| Instrument Name Short | Instrument Name Full | Instrument Agencies | Instrument Status | Instrument Type | Measurements and Applications | Waveband Categories | Spatial Resolution | Swath Width | Orbit |
| TIRS-2 | Thermal Infrared Sensor - 2 | USGS (NASA) | Approved | Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR) | Measures surface radiance and emittance, lands cover state and change (e.g., vegetation type). 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). | TIR | 100 m | 185 km | LEO-sun-sync |
| POLDER | Polarization and Directionality of the Earth’s Reflectances | CNES (EUMETSAT) | Operational | passive optical imaging radiometer and polarimeter | Designed to observe solar radiation reflected by Earth’s atmosphere, including studies of tropospheric aerosols, sea surface reflectance, bidirectional reflectance distribution function of land surfaces, and the Earth Radiation Budget. | 15 spectral bands which range from 443 nm to 910 nm. | 6.5 km | 2400 km | LEO-sun-sync |
NOTE: Table created using data from Prather (2015), https://polder-mission.cnes.fr/fr, and http://database.eohandbook.com/.
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Civilian Satellite Specifications." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Opportunities to Improve Representation of Clouds and Aerosols in Climate Models with Classified Observing Systems: Proceedings of a Workshop: Abbreviated Version. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23527.
×
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Civilian Satellite Specifications." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Opportunities to Improve Representation of Clouds and Aerosols in Climate Models with Classified Observing Systems: Proceedings of a Workshop: Abbreviated Version. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23527.
×
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Civilian Satellite Specifications." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Opportunities to Improve Representation of Clouds and Aerosols in Climate Models with Classified Observing Systems: Proceedings of a Workshop: Abbreviated Version. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23527.
×
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Civilian Satellite Specifications." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Opportunities to Improve Representation of Clouds and Aerosols in Climate Models with Classified Observing Systems: Proceedings of a Workshop: Abbreviated Version. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23527.
×
