| Aerosol column burden* | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol |
| Aerosol effective radius | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol |
| Aerosol mass mixing ratio | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol |
| Aerosol Optical Depth* | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol |
| Aerosol type | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol |
| Biomass* | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI |
| Cloud cover* | 5 - marginal | Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels |
| Cloud optical depth | 4 - fair | Low-density cloud only.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels |
| 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 and NIR channels |
| Colour Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM)* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | Many narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for more water types, in open ocean and coastal zone |
| Downward short-wave irradiance at Earth surface | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Highly indirect. | VIS and NIR channels |
| Earth surface albedo* | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive. | VIS channels |
| Fire fractional cover | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Coarse spatial resolution.. Daylight only. | VIS channels |
| Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)* | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive. | VIS channels including Red at 700 nm |
| Leaf Area Index (LAI)* | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels. LAI inferred from NDVI |
| Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)* | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive. | VIS and NIR channels |
| Ocean chlorophyll concentration * | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | Many narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for more water types, in open ocean and coastal zone |
| Ocean Diffuse Attenuation Coefficient (DAC)* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | Many narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for more water types, in open ocean and coastal zone |
| Ocean suspended sediments concentration* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | Many narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for more water types, in open ocean and coastal zone |
| Oil spill cover* | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS channels with narrow bandwidth |
| Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)* | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive. | VIS channels, range accurately sampled |
| Short-wave cloud reflectance | 5 - marginal | No specific limitation. | VIS and NIR channels |
| Snow cover | 4 - fair | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels |
| Soil moisture at surface | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR 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 | 5 - marginal | Spectral interpolation needed.. Information on BRDF needed. | VIS and NIR channels |
| Aerosol volcanic ash | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level ashes |
| Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level ashes |
| Sea-ice cover | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only. | VIS and NIR (for contour enhancement) channels |
Instrument: MERIS