ForwardInstrument:  3MI 

Instrument details
Acronym 3MI
Full name Multi-viewing Multi-channel Multi-polarisation Imager
Purpose Aerosol, cirrus clouds, Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)
Short description

Bi-directionsl viewing, multi-polarisation, 12 narrow-bandwidth channels, VIS, NIR and SWIR, large swath [see detailed characteristics below]

Monitoring and calibration information here
Background

Evolution of POLDER on ADEOS, ADEOS-2 and PARASOL
Scanning Technique

VIS/NIR channels: 520x520 CCD array, each earth’s spot viewed from ~ 14 directions as satellite moves. SWIR channels: 520x256 CCD array, each earth’s spot viewed from ~ 12 directions as satellite moves. 2200 km swath from both CCD's.
Resolution 4 km IFOV
Coverage / Cycle Near-global coverage every day in daylight.
Mass 60 kg Power 80 W Data Rate 6.5 Mbps

 

Providing Agency ESA
Instrument Maturity Backed by strong heritage
Utilization Period: 2025 to 2047
Last update: 2025-05-27
Detailed characteristics

Channel

Central wavelength

Bandwidth

Polarisation

SNR @ specified input

3MI-2b

410 nm

20 nm

Y

200 @ 46.64 W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

3MI-3

443 nm

20 nm

Y

200 @ 56.61W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

3MI-4

490 nm

20 nm

Y

200 @ 57.74 W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

3MI-5

555 nm

20 nm

Y

200 @ 55.24 W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

3MI-6

670 nm

20 nm

Y

200 @ 44.57 W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

3MI -7

763 nm

10 nm

N

200 @ 36.11 W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

3MI -8

765 nm

40 nm

N

200 @ 36.11 W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

3MI -9

865 nm

40 nm

Y

200 @ 28.20 W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

3MI-9a

910 nm

20 nm

N

200 @ 25.18 W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

3MI -10

1370 nm

40 nm

Y

200 @ 10.73 W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

3MI -11

1650 nm

40 nm

Y

200 @ 6.80 W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

3MI -12

2130 nm

40 nm

Y

200 @ 2.50 W m-2 sr-1 µm-1
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Passive optical radiometer or spectrometer
  • Moderate resolution optical imager
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 2
  • Multi-angle, multi-polarization radiometers
  • Multi-angle, multi-polarization radiometer
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Aerosol Optical Depth
  • Aerosol column burden
  • Aerosol effective radius
  • Aerosol mass mixing ratio
  • Aerosol type
  • Aerosol volcanic ash
  • Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column
  • Cloud cover
  • Cloud optical depth
  • Cloud type
  • Earth surface albedo
  • Earth surface short-wave bidirectional reflectance
  • Short-wave cloud reflectance
  • Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA
Evaluation of Measurements