BackForwardInstrument:  MSC (ZY) 

Instrument details
Acronym MSC (ZY)
Full name Multi-Spectral Camera
Purpose High resolution land observation
Short description 4-channel VIS/NIR radiometer [see detailed characteristics below]
Background Consolidated technique
Scanning Technique Pushbroom, swath 51 km
Resolution 5.8 m at s.s.p.
Coverage / Cycle Global in 2 months
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency CAST
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2012-04-20 to ≥2021
Last update: 2021-06-17
Detailed characteristics

Central wavelength

Spectral interval

SNR @ specified input spectral radiance

0.485 µm

0.45 - 0.52 µm

100 @ ...... W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

0.555 µm

0.52 - 0.59 µm

100 @ ...... W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

0.660 µm

0.63 - 0.69 µm

100 @ ...... W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

0.830 µm

0.77 - 0.89 µm

100 @ ...... 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
  • High resolution optical imager
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 1
  • High-resolution multi-spectral VIS/IR imagers
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Biomass
  • Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)
  • Fraction of vegetated land
  • Land cover
  • Leaf Area Index (LAI)
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Tentative 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
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Biomass5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI
Cloud cover5 - marginalInfrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Cloud optical depth4 - fairLow-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Earth surface albedo5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS channels
Fire fractional cover2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS channels with high resolution for boundary detection
Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS channels including Red at 700 nm
Fraction of vegetated land2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Glacier cover4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Land cover2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Leaf Area Index (LAI)4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.. Infrequent coverage.VIS and NIR channels. LAI inferred from NDVI
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS and NIR channels
Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS channels, range undersampled
Sea-ice cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR (for contour enhancement) channels
Short-wave cloud reflectance5 - marginalInfrequent coverage.VIS and NIR channels. Unsuitable dynamic range (saturation)
Snow cover4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Soil moisture at surface5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels. Soil moisture inferred from differential brightness
Soil type2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA5 - marginalSpectral interpolation needed.. Information on BRDF needed.. Infrequent coverage.VIS and NIR channels
Vegetation type3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Aerosol volcanic ash5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels