| Aerosol column burden | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels including the 760 nm band for high-level aerosol |
| Aerosol effective radius | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels including the 760 nm band for high-level aerosol |
| Aerosol mass mixing ratio | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels including the 760 nm band for high-level aerosol |
| Aerosol Optical Depth | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels including the 760 nm band for high-level aerosol |
| Aerosol type | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels including the 760 nm band for high-level aerosol |
| Biomass* | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI and other vegetation indexes |
| Cloud cover | 4 - fair | Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels |
| Cloud optical depth | 4 - fair | Low-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral, channels |
| Cloud top height | 4 - fair | Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | NIR hyperspectral channels to estimate the total-column O2 above the cloud top as measured around 760 nm |
| Cloud type | 5 - marginal | Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels |
| Downward short-wave irradiance at Earth surface | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Highly indirect.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels |
| Earth surface albedo | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage. | VIS hyperspectral channels |
| Fire fractional cover | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS channels with high resolution for boundary detection |
| Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)* | 3 - high | High troposphere only.. Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage. | VIS channels including Red at 700 nm |
| Fraction of vegetated land* | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels |
| Glacier cover | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels |
| Glacier topography | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only. | VIS channel(s) and steering capability both cross and along track for stereoscopy both in-orbit and between orbits |
| Ice sheet topography | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only. | VIS channel(s) and steering capability both cross and along track for stereoscopy both in-orbit and between orbits |
| Land cover* | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels |
| Land surface topography | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only. | VIS channel(s) and steering capability both cross and along track for stereoscopy both in-orbit and between orbits |
| Leaf Area Index (LAI)* | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only.. Infrequent coverage. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels. LAI inferred from NDVI and other vegetation indexes |
| Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels |
| Oil spill cover | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only.. Infrequent coverage. | VIS hyperspectral channels |
| Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage. | VIS channels, range accurately sampled |
| Short-wave cloud reflectance | 5 - marginal | Infrequent coverage. | VIS and NIR channels. Unsuitable dynamic range (saturation) |
| Snow cover | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels |
| Soil moisture at surface | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels. Soil moisture inferred from differential brightness |
| Soil type | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels |
| Specific humidity | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Very coarse vertical resolution.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | NIR hyperspectral channels including the ro-sigma-tau band of water vapour around 940 nm |
| Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA | 5 - marginal | Spectral interpolation needed.. Information on BRDF needed.. Infrequent coverage. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels |
| Vegetation type* | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels |
| Aerosol volcanic ash | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels including the 760 nm band for high-level ash |
| Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR hyperspectral channels including the 760 nm band for high-level ash |
| Integrated Water Vapour (IWV) | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | NIR hyperspectral channels covering the 940 nm band |
| Sea-ice cover | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR (for contour enhancement) channels |
Instrument: GSA