Biomass* | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI and LAI |
Cloud cover | 5 - marginal | Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels |
Cloud drop effective radius | 4 - fair | At cloud top.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels and different viewing angles (for differentiation). |
Cloud ice effective radius | 4 - fair | At cloud top.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR 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 | 5 - marginal | Daylight only. | NIR channels to estimate the total-column O2 above the cloud top as measured around 760 nm |
Cloud type | 5 - marginal | Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels viewing under more angles |
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 range with many different viewing angles |
Fire fractional cover | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Coarse spatial resolution.. Daylight only. | VIS channels |
Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive. | VIS channels including Red at 700 nm, with more viewing angles |
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; multi-viewing capability for irradiance reconstruction |
Short-wave cloud reflectance | 1 - primary | No specific limitation. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels with multi-viewing and multi-polarisation capabiliy 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 | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels. Soil moisture inferred from differential brightness |
Integrated Water Vapour (IWV) | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | NIR channels in the bands of water vapour around 900 nm and 940 nm |
Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA | 4 - fair | Spectral interpolation needed.. Information on BRDF needed. | UV, VIS, NIR and SWIR channels |
Aerosol volcanic ash* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels including 760 nm, with multi-angle viewing and polarimetry for accurate ash identification, also over land |
Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR and SWIR channels including 760 nm, with multi-angle viewing and polarimetry for accurate ash identification, also over land |
Sea-ice cover | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS, NIR (for contour enhancement) and SWIR (for discrimination from clouds) channels |