BackForwardInstrument:  MAIA 

Instrument details
Acronym MAIA
Full name Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols
Purpose To measure the radiance and polarization of sunlight scattered by atmospheric aerosols, from which the abundance and characteristics of ground level particulate matter (PM) are derived
Short description Two pushbroom VIS/NIR/SWIR 14-channel spectropolarimetric cameras on a two-axis gimbal for multiangle viewing, frequent target revisits, and inflight calibration [see details in the table below]
Background New development
Scanning Technique Pushbroom scanning of frames of 300 km x 150 km within ±60° along-track and ±45° across-track. About 10 different viewing angles.
Resolution 200 m at s.s.p.
Coverage / Cycle Global in 3 days, in daylight
Mass 80 kg Power 85 W Data Rate 10 Mbps

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2026 to 2029
Last update: 2022-07-18
Detailed characteristics

Central

wavelength

Bandwidth

Polarisations

(Stokes parameters)

SNR at specified

input spectral radiance

367 nm

38 nm

 

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

389 nm

39 nm

 

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

415 nm

39 nm

 

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

445 nm

54 nm

Q and U

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

551 nm

45 nm

 

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

645 nm

73 nm

Q and U

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

749 nm

18 nm

 

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

762.5 nm

6 nm

 

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

864 nm

51 nm

 

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

943 nm

47 nm

 

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

1039 nm

97 nm

Q and U

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

1607 nm

72 nm

 

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

1880 nm

87 nm

 

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

2126 nm

124 nm

 

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Passive optical radiometer or spectrometer
  • Moderate resolution optical imager
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 2
  • Multi-angle, multi-polarization radiometers
  • Multi-angle, multi-polarization radiometer
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Aerosol volcanic ash
  • Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column
  • Biomass
  • Cloud optical depth
  • Earth surface albedo
  • Earth surface short-wave bidirectional reflectance
  • Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)
  • Leaf Area Index (LAI)
  • Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
  • Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Biomass*4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI and LAI
Cloud cover5 - marginalDaylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Cloud drop effective radius4 - fairAt cloud top.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels and different viewing angles (for differentiation).
Cloud ice effective radius4 - fairAt cloud top.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels with different viewing angles (for differentiation).
Cloud optical depth*2 - very highLow-density cloud only.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels with different viewing angles
Cloud top height5 - marginalDaylight only.NIR channels to estimate the total-column O2 above the cloud top as measured around 760 nm
Cloud type5 - marginalDaylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels viewing under more angles
Downward short-wave irradiance at Earth surface3 - highCloud sensitive.. Highly indirect.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Earth surface albedo*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.VIS channels with many viewing angles to account for anisotropic reflectivity
Earth surface short-wave bidirectional reflectance*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.VIS, NIR and SWIR range with many different viewing angles
Fire fractional cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Coarse spatial resolution.. Daylight only.VIS channels
Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.VIS channels including Red at 700 nm, with more viewing angles
Leaf Area Index (LAI)*2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)*3 - highCloud sensitive.VIS and NIR channels
Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.VIS channels, range undersampled; multi-viewing capability for irradiance reconstruction
Short-wave cloud reflectance1 - primaryNo specific limitation.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels with multi-viewing and multi-polarisation capabiliy to account for anisotropical reflectance
Snow cover2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels, enabling screening snow from clouds
Soil moisture at surface5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels. Soil moisture inferred from differential brightness
Integrated Water Vapour (IWV)4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.NIR channels in the bands of water vapour around 900 nm and 940 nm
Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA4 - fairSpectral interpolation needed.. Information on BRDF needed.UV, VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Aerosol volcanic ash*1 - primaryCloud 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 - primaryCloud 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 cover4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR (for contour enhancement) and SWIR (for discrimination from clouds) channels