| Biomass | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI and LAI |
| Cloud cover* | 1 - primary | No specific limitation. | VIS, NIR, SWIR, MWIR and TIR channels |
| Cloud drop effective radius | 3 - high | At cloud top.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR, SWIR and MWIR channels and different viewing angles (for differentiation). |
| Cloud ice effective radius | 3 - high | At cloud top.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR, SWIR and MWIR channels with different viewing angles (for differentiation). |
| Cloud optical depth* | 2 - very high | Low-density cloud only.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels with different viewing angles |
| Cloud top height* | 4 - fair | No specific limitation. | TIR window channels to estimate cloud top height from its temperature |
| Cloud top temperature* | 4 - fair | No specific limitation. | TIR window channels |
| Cloud type* | 1 - primary | No specific limitation. | VIS, NIR, SWIR, MWIR and TIR channels |
| Downward short-wave irradiance at Earth surface | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Highly indirect. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels |
| Earth surface albedo | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive. | VIS channels with many viewing angles to account for anisotropic reflectivity |
| Earth surface short-wave bidirectional reflectance | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels with a few different viewing angles |
| Fire fractional cover | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Coarse spatial resolution. | VIS, MWIR and TIR channels |
| Fire radiative power | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Coarse spatial resolution. | MWIR and TIR channels |
| Fire temperature | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Coarse spatial resolution. | MWIR and TIR channels |
| Land surface temperature | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive. | MWIR and TIR window channels with different viewing angles for atmospheric correction |
| Leaf Area Index (LAI)* | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels |
| Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)* | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive. | VIS and NIR channels |
| Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive. | VIS channels, range undersampled; a few different viewing angles for irradiance reconstruction |
| Sea surface temperature* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive. | MWIR and TIR window channels around 3.7 and 11 micrometers with different viewing angles for atmospheric correction |
| Short-wave cloud reflectance | 2 - very high | No specific limitation. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels with multi-viewing capability to account for anisotropical reflectance |
| Snow cover | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels, enabling screening snow from clouds |
| Soil moisture at surface | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Index only. | VIS, SWIR, MWIR and TIR channels. Soil moisture inferred from differential brightness and thermal inertia |
| Integrated Water Vapour (IWV) | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Low troposphere dominant. | TIR channels in the 11 micrometers split window |
| Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA | 4 - fair | Spectral interpolation needed. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels with multi-viewing capability to account for anisotropical reflectance |
| Aerosol volcanic ash | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels viewing under a few different angles |
| Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels with a few different viewing angles |
| Wind (horizontal) | 5 - marginal | Limited to high latitudes.. Cloud or water vapour tracers needed. | TIR channel(s) around 11 micrometers window |
| Sea-ice cover* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive. | VIS, NIR (for contour enhancement), SWIR (for discrimination from clouds), MWIR and TIR channels |
Instrument: AATSR