Remote Sensing Instrument Database

Instrument	Class & Platform	Owner/Agency	Instrument Specifics	Primary Uses	Positive-Negative Aspects	Website
Advanced Earth Observing Satellite	Multispectral satellite-borne	managed by National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA)	several instrument packages on board; see AVNIR, TOMS, OCTS, and POLDER below	environmental assessment and study	ADEOS only acquired data from 1996-1997 due to broken solar panels ADEOS II is planned to replace ADEOS I	ADEOS
Advanced Land Imager	Multispectral, Panchromatic flown aboard EO-1	NASA	Multispectral 10 bands 0.4-2.4 um 30m pixel 37km swath width Panchromatic 10m pixel	designed to produce images directly comparable to Landsat 7 ETM+, will establish data continuity with previous Landsats	finer resolutions than available on Landsat, though it's sister instrument Hyperion has far superior spectral resolution vastly increased SNR over Landsat 7	ALI
AIRborne Synthetic Aperature Radar	Radar airborne - DC8	operated by NASA	P, L, C bands interferometric with L and C slant range resolution of 10m azimuth resolution of 1m ground swath 10-15km runs in several modes including high resolution 80MHz SAR, TOPSAR (data coregistered with DEMs, ATI mode (C and L bands along track)	production of very high resolution DEM's, ground movement quantification	though DEMs produced are quite good, there can be systematic height errors no systematic repeat coverage as it is flown on aircraft PACRIMII acquistions collected data on many underepresented Pacific Rim countries including Indonesia and Papua New Guinea	AIRSAR
Aurora
Australian Resource Information and Environmental Satellite	Hyperspectral and Panchromatic satellite-borne	adminstered by CSIRO, Auspace Ltd., and ACRES	~32 bands 0.40-1.05um 20 nm bandwidth ~32 bands 2.00-2.50um 16 nm bandwidth 1 band Panchromatic 10m pixel 30m pixel 15km swath width 7 day revisit	mineralogical and vegetation mapping	one of the first planned hyperspectral satellites launch has been pushed back to 2004	ARIES
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer	Multispectral Terra satellite	NASA (Japan/U.S./Australia)	3 bands 0.52-0.86um 15m pixel 6 bands 1.60-2.45um 30m pixel 5 bands 8.125-11.65um 90m pixel stereo capability 60km swath width 16 day revisit	vegetation change natural hazard short term climate change coral reef degradation resource exploration high resolution DEM cloud free map of planet	one of only a few multi-band thermal satellite instrument capability for on-demand data acquistion requests	ASTER
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer	Multispectral carried on POES Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite	NOAA	5 bands 0.58-12.50um (varying bandwidths) 1.1km pixel 2700km swath width daily images	vegetation distribution and seasonal changes on continent scales	good for large scale vegetation/ecosystem studies, but spatial and spectral resolution is poor for identification of communities/species	AVHRR
Advanced Visible/ Infra- Red Imaging Spectrometer	Hyperspectral flown on the NASA ER-2 at 20km	NASA-JPL	224 bands(10nm wide) 0.40-2.50um 20m pixel 11.5km swath width	ecology, oceanography, geology, snow hydrology, cloud and atmosphere studies	very good calibration and SNR must be an AVIRIS/NASA PI to get overflights, otherwise very expensive 20m pixels make vegetation studies more difficult, but excellent for mineral/rock work	AVIRIS
Compact Airborne/ Spectrographic Imager	Multispectral/Hyperspectral flown on aircraft of choice	manufactured by Itres Research Ltd. (see website for companies that own these)	variable bands (~19-288) (~2-12nm wide) 0.40-1.0um 1.2m pixel/1km altitude variable swath width	ecology, geology, coastal zones, agriculture, environmental monitoring, etc.	user selection of either spatial mode which allows for particular band center selection (usually non-contiguous) or hyperspectral mode which allows for contiguous band collection only images in the VIS/NIR no data collected in the SWIR hence geology applications are limited collection all the way down to 400nm makes this instrument a good option for aquatic studies though this collection reduces overall SNR	CASI
Coastal Zone Color Scanner	Multispectral Environmental satellite flown onboard Nimbus-7 from 1978-1986	NASA	6 bands 0.43-0.68um 20nm bandwidth 1 band 0.70-0.80um 1 band 10.5-12.5um	ocean color surveillance measure concentrations of chlorophyll-a map bioproductive regions map suspended sediment detect pollutants map temperatures of waters	excellent global coverage, but poor spatial resolution no longer collecting imagery(its' successor is SeaWiFS)	CZCS
Earth Observing- 1	Multispectral and Hyperspectral satellite-borne	NASA	three instruments onboard; see Hyperion, ALI, AC	imaging of land ecosystems provides continuity of imaging with Landsat-7 ETM+	collection of data concurrent with Landsat-7 ensures robustness of experimental data first hyperspectral satellite to be launched launch expected November 2000	EO-1
European Remote Sensing Satellite- 1,2
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites	Multispectral Environmental satellites	NOAA	1 band 0.55-0.70um 1km pixel resampled to 8km 1 band 10.50-12.60um 8km pixel hemisphere scale images	primarily used for meteorologic studies	two juxtaposed satellites allow for total earth imaging every day low spatial resolution doesn't allow for earth resource studies	GOES
Hyperion	Hyperspectral onboard the EO-1 satellite	NASA	220 bands 0.40-2.50um 10nm bandwidth 30m pixel 7.5km swath width	general earth materials mapping geology, mining, forestry, agriculture, and environmental management	the large number of bands allows for identification of materials, however the large pixel size may hinder vegetation studies in particular mission life is only set at 1 year launch date Nov 2000	Hyperion
Hyperspectral Mapper (also Probe-1 owned by Earth Search Sciences, Idaho, USA)	Hyperspectral flown on small aircraft at low altitudes	HyVista Inc., Sydney, Australia	128 bands 0.44-2.50um 15nm bandwidth 2-10m pixels 1-5km swath widths	geological and biological mapping ecology studies oceanography resource mapping and exploration	high SNR (>1000:1) ability to fly on-demand acquistions high spatial resolutions available frequent repeat imaging is expensive	HyMap
Ikonos 1	Panchromatic and Multispectral satellite-borne	Space Imaging, Inc., Thornton, CO, USA	1 band Panchromatic 1m pixel Multispectral 4m pixel	agriculture urban planning emergency response media mapping land use environmental monitoring mining & exploration	highest spatial resolution available from a satellite expensive provides ability to "sharpen" low resolution images from other sensors	IKONOS-1
India Remote Sensing satellites	Multispectral and Panchromatic four separate satellites launched between 1988 and 1997	National Remote Sensing Agency, India (imagery also available from EOSAT, U.S.A.)	IRS satellites carry three different versions of the LISS (linear imaging self-scanning) instrument: LISS I 4 bands 0.45-0.86um 72.5m pixel 148km swath width LISS II 4 bands 0.45-0.86um 36.3m pixel 146km swath width LISS III 4 bands 0.52-1.70um 23.5m-70.5m pixel 141km swath width 1 panchromatic band 0.50-0.75um 5.8m pixel 70km swath width	classic earth resource satellite used for geology, vegetation, agriculture, oceanography, resource exploration and management, environmental monitoring and study	large pixel sizes make ecosystem studies more difficult, however the PAN band on the LISS III allows for sharpening of the imagery	IRS
Japanese Earth Resources Satellite	Multispectral and Radar satellite-borne (launched in 1992)	National Space Development Agency (NASDA)-Japan (data also obtained by NASA)	Optical Sensor (OPS) system 7 bands 0.52-2.40um 20m pixel 75km swath width images in stereo can also be produced by the OPS system	Earth resource satellite environmental protection, agriculture, forestry, fishery, land use, disaster prevention, coastal monitoring	the inclusion of the SWIR wavelength region allows for identification of minerals, however, blurring and striping in the OPS imagery renders the imagery unusable for many applications no successor to JERS-1 has been announced end of mission in 1998	JERS-1
Landsat 1-7	Multispectral and Panchromatic seven satellites have been launched since 1972: Landsat1 1972-1978 MSS Landsat2 1975-1982 MSS Landsat3 1978-1983 MSS Landsat4 1982-1987 MSS,TM Landsat5 1985-present MSS,TM Landsat6 1993 lost at launch Landsat7 1999-present ETM+	NASA	Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) 4 bands 0.5-1.1um 80m pixel 185km swath width revisit 16-18 days Thematic Mapper (TM) 7 bands 0.45-12.50um 30m pixel (VIS/NIR/SWIR) 120m pixel (TIR) 185km swath width revisit 16 days Enhanced Thematic Mapper+ (ETM+) 7 bands 0.45-12.5um 30m pixel (VIS/NIR/SWIR) 60m pixel (TIR) 1 PAN band 0.52-0.90um 15m pixel 183km swath width revisit 16 days	classic earth resource satellite geology, oceanography, agriculture, environmental monitoring, hazard prevention, mining, land use and degradation, snow studies, deforestation, coastal use and degradation	the continuity of the Landsat program is an invaluable resource; it allows a continuous study of our Earth since 1972 inclusion of a PAN band in Landsat7 will allow for studies that require a finer spatial resolution, such as vegetation studies in general, the 30m spatial resolution makes fine scale ecosystem studies difficult	LANDSAT
Modis ASTER airborne simulator	Multispectral flown in a Beachcraft B200 NASA ER-2 NASA DC-8	JPL/NASA	50 bands 0.40-13.0um 5-50m pixel (depending on flight height)	geology, ecology, oceanography	provides validation for EO-1 sensors, MODIS and ASTER inclusion of the thermal bands allows for multi-purpose studies that usually require several instruments flown only by request which is not guarenteed browsable archive of imagery online	MASTER
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer	Multispectral onboard the Terra satellite	JPL/NASA	4 bands 0.45-0.87um 250-275m pixel (depending on viewing angle) 360km swath width revisit 2-9 days	enhanced study of earth climate study of different atmospheric particles, cloud forms, and land surface covers very accurate estimates of total amount of sunlight reflected from Earth	though MISR only has four bands, it's strength lies in it's nine widely spaced viewing angles which allow scientists to conduct studies not possible before	MISR
Multispectral Infrared and Visible Imaging Spectrometer	Hyperspectral airborne	acquired by CNR (Italian National Research Council) in framework of LARA (Airborne Laboratory for Environmental Studies	102 bands VIS 0.43-0.83um (20 channels) NIR 1.15-1.55um (8 channels) SWIR 1.983-2.478um (64 channels) TIR 8.18-12.7um (10 channels) IFOV 2.0mrad variable pixel size	monitoring of active volcanoes, coastlines, lagoons, oceans, farming interests, oil slicks, general waste discharges, archeological sites	though not truely hyperspectral, its spectral range is unique in that it covers not only VIS/IR, but also a portion of the TIR all in the same sensor repeat coverage costly operated primarily for Italian interests	MIVIS manufacturer MIVIS-Europe
Moderate -Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer	Multispectral onboard the Terra satellite	JPL/NASA	36 bands 0.400-15.0um 1km pixel 2330km swath width revisit 1-2 days	earth resource satellite land cover, vegetation cover, fire and thermal anomalies, snow and ice cover, oceanography	by including a moderate number of bands, mineral and plant identification now becomes an approachable problem a 1 km pixel is quite large and there will be a lot of pixel mixing from this	MODIS-Land MODIS-Atmos.&Oceans
Naval Earth Map Observer	Hyperspectral, Panchromatic satellite launch delayed indefinately	Office of Naval Research(ONR) Naval Research Laboratory(NRL)	Coastal Ocean Imaging Spectrometer (COIS) 220 bands 10nm bands 0.4-2.4um 30-60m pixel 30km swath width 7 day revisit Panchromatic Imager 0.45-0.67um 5m pixel	characterization of world littoral regions demonstrate automated, on-board processing, analysis, and feature extraction study of water clarity, bathymetry, underwater hazards, currents, oil slicks, bottom type, tides, bioluminescence potential, beach characterization, atmospheric water vapor, subvisible cirrus	mapping terrestrial and aquatic materials in support of military operations, though commercial applications are also planned inclusion of the ORASIS (Optical Real-Time Spectral Identification) may make the volumnious data amounts managable, though the accuracies will likely be lower financial issues appear to have shelved the launch indefinately	NEMO
Orbview-4 (Warfighter)	Hyperspectral, Multispectral and Panchromatic satellite-borne launch set for 2001	Orbital Science Corporation Army,Navy,Airforce, NASA	Multispectral 4 bands VIS/NIR 4m pixel 8km swath width Hyperspectral 200 bands 0.4-2.5um 8m pixel 5km swath width Panchromatic 1 band in VIS 1m pixel 8km swath width revisit 2-3 days	environmental impact statements infrastructure planning urban planning crop health assessment/vegetation studies resource exploration geology habitat monitoring mission planning for national security and surveillance	the high spatial resolution hyperspectral spectrometer is an unprecedented addition to the constellation of satellites, however the U.S. government is balking at releasing such spatial information to the public a very large amount of data as files are so large	Orbview-4
Probe-1	see HyMap
Radarsat	Radar satellite-borne	Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Canadian Center for Remote Sensing (CCRS) distributed by Radarsat International	C-band single frequency 5.7cm variety of beam selections 10-100m pixel resolution 35-500km swath width variable revisit times approx. 6 days at mid-latitudes	monitor environmental change support resource sustainability monitor sea-ice conditions geology (structural interpretation especially)	a big plus to radar is it's ability to see through clouds; this is important for work done in tropical regions radar is also strongly scattered by vegetation this system has a polar orbit, so it sees more of the earth than the earlier SIR-C mission	RADARSAT
Spatially Enhanced Broadband Array Spectrograph System	Hyperspectral flown on DeHavilland Twin Otters	The Aerospace Corporation, CA, USA	3.0-5.4um, 7.8-13.6um 2-12.5ft pixel IFOV=1mrad	mineral exploration, possible hazard monitoring, environmental	one of the only commercially available instruments with hyperspectral thermal bands allows for identification of many silicate minerals not easily identified in the VIS/NIR/SWIR systematic repeat coverage not an economic reality for most flights are combined with groundtruth measurements	SEABASS
Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor	Multispectral launched aboard the SeaStar satellite in 1997	NASA/Orbital Science Corp.	8 bands 0.40-0.89um 1.1km pixel 1502km swath width revisit 1 day	designed to monitor ocean physics, chemistry, and biology provide quantitative data on global ocean bio-optical properties an ocean color sensor to replace the now defunct CZCS	rapid repeat time allows for excellent multi-temporal studies, however the large pixel size and small number of bands rules out a lot of terrestrial studies---this is an ocean sensor	SeaWiFS
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission	Radar carried aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour	NASA, NIMA, DLR (Germany), ASI (Italy)	C and X Band 30m spatial sampling 16m absolute vert. height accuracy 10m relative vertical height accuracy	to use C and X band interferometric SAR to acquire topographic data over 80% of Earth's land mass (between 60degN and 56degS) during an eleven day mission geology, earthquake research, volcano monitoring, hydrologic modeling, co-reg of other remote sensing data, civil engineering, land use planning, line of site determinations, flight simulators, various military applications	only a one-time 11 day mission, thus baselining is prime objective allows for draping of other remotely sensed imagery to add a third dimension to image analysis and interpretation	SRTM
Spaceborne Imaging Radar -C/ X-band Synthetic AperatureRadar
Systeme Probatoire d' Observation de la Terre	Multispectral and Panchromatic four satellites launched from 1986-1998, SPOT5 proposed launch in 2001	designed by Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES),(France,Belgium,Sweden)	SPOT XS 3 bands 0.50-0.89um 20m pixel 60km swath width SPOT Pan 1 band 0.51-0.73um 10m pixel 60km swath width	earth resource satellite cartography, agriculture, environmental monitoring, landuse, landcover, geology, exploration, etc.	the rapid repeat time and stereo capability give this satellite something many of the others don't have only three bands in the VIS/NIR however, limits it's use in sophisticated landcover mapping	SPOT