Aerosol column burden | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR (including the 760 nm band for high-level aerosol) and SWIR hyperspectral channels |
Aerosol effective radius | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR including the 760 nm band for high-level aerosol, and SWIR hyperspectral channels |
Aerosol mass mixing ratio | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR (including the 760 nm band for high-level aerosol) and SWIR hyperspectral channels |
Aerosol Optical Depth | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR (including the 760 nm band for high-level aerosol) and SWIR hyperspectral channels |
Aerosol type | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR (including the 760 nm band for high-level aerosol) and SWIR hyperspectral channels |
Biomass* | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR hyperspectral channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI and other vegetation indexes |
Cloud cover | 4 - fair | Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR hyperspectral channels |
Cloud optical depth | 2 - very high | Low-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR 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 |
Downward short-wave irradiance at Earth surface | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Highly indirect.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR hyperspectral channels |
Earth surface albedo | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage. | VIS hyperspectral channels |
Cloud type | 5 - marginal | Daylight only.. Infrequent coverage.. Cloud sensitive. | VIS, NIR and SWIR 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* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR hyperspectral |
Glacier cover | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels, screening ice from clouds |
Glacier topography | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only. | VIS channel(s) and cross-track steering capability for stereoscopy between images from neighbour orbits |
Ice sheet topography | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only. | VIS channel(s) and cross-track steering capability for stereoscopy between images from neighbour orbits |
Land cover | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR hyperspectral channels |
Land surface topography | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only. | VIS channel(s) and cross-track steering capability for stereoscopy between images from neighbouring orbits |
Leaf Area Index (LAI)* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only.. Infrequent coverage. | VIS, NIR and SWIR hyperspectral channels |
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 |
Sea-ice cover | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR (for contour enhancement) and SWIR (for discrimination from clouds) channels |
Short-wave cloud reflectance | 4 - fair | Infrequent coverage. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels. Unsuitable dynamic range (saturation) |
Snow cover | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels, enabling screening snow from clouds |
Soil moisture at surface | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR hyperspectral channels. Soil moisture inferred from differential brightness |
Soil type | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR 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 |
Integrated Water Vapour (IWV) | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | NIR hyperspectral channels covering the 940 nm band |
Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA | 5 - marginal | Spectral interpolation needed.. Information on BRDF needed.. Infrequent coverage. | VIS, NIR and SWIR hyperspectral channels |
Vegetation type* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR hyperspectral channels |
Aerosol volcanic ash | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR 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, NIR and SWIR hyperspectral channels including the 760 nm band for high-level ash |