Biomass* | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI |
Cloud cover | 5 - marginal | Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels |
Cloud drop effective radius | 3 - high | At cloud top.. Daylight only.. Infrequent coverage. | Channels in VIS, NIR and the MWIR window around 3.7 micrometers (for differentiation) |
Cloud ice effective radius | 3 - high | At cloud top.. Daylight only.. Infrequent coverage. | Channels in VIS, NIR and the MWIR window around 3.7 micrometers (for differentiation) |
Cloud optical depth | 4 - fair | Low-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels |
Fire fractional cover* | 2 - very high | Infrequent coverage.. Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | MWIR window channel(s) around 3.7 micrometers |
Fire radiative power | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage. | MWIR window channel(s) around 3.7 micrometers |
Fire temperature | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage. | MWIR window channel(s) around 3.7 micrometers |
Fraction of vegetated land* | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels |
Glacier cover | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels; and panchromatic channel with high resolution, for glacier boundary detection |
Land cover | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels |
Land surface temperature | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Affected by sunlight. | MWIR window channel(s) around 3.7 micrometers (high sensitivity to high temperature, cloud impact reduction) |
Leaf Area Index (LAI)* | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only.. Infrequent coverage. | VIS and NIR channels. LAI inferred from NDVI |
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)* | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage. | VIS and NIR channels |
Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage. | VIS channels, range undersampled |
Sea surface temperature | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Affected by sunlight. | MWIR window channel(s) (cloud impact reduction) |
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, NIR and panchromatic (higher resolution) channels |
Soil moisture at surface | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels. Soil moisture inferred from differential brightness |
Soil type | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels |
Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA | 5 - marginal | Spectral interpolation needed.. Information on BRDF needed.. Infrequent coverage. | VIS and NIR channels |
Vegetation type* | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels |
Aerosol volcanic ash | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels |
Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels |
Sea-ice cover | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR (for contour enhancement) channels |