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INSTRUMENTS

Explore the many instruments the European Space Agency use to observe the Earth. ESA offer data from a wide range of optical, radar, atmospheric, altimetric and gravimetric instrumentation.

  • Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers

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    AATSR

    The AATSR instrument aboard Envisat was primarily designed to measure Sea Surface Temperature.

  • Instrument - Lidar/Laser Sounders

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    ALADIN

    ALADIN, on board Aeolus, is a Direct Detection Doppler Wind Lidar operating in the ultraviolet range.

  • Instrument - Imaging Radars

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    ASAR

    ASAR ensures continuity with the image mode (SAR) and the wave mode of the ERS-1/2 AMI.

  • Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers

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    AVNIR-2

    The Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer-2 (AVNIR-2) was a visible and near infrared radiometer for observing land and coastal zones.

  • Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers

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    CHRIS

    Compact High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (CHRIS) provided data of spectral reflectances.

  • Instrument - Radio

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    DORIS

    DORIS was used to determine the precise location of Envisat in orbit.

  • Instrument - Accelerometers

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    EGG

    The main objective of GOCE's EGG was to measure the three components of the Gravity-Gradient Tensor.

  • Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers

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    Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+)

    The Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) is the main instrument onboard Landsat-7.

  • Instrument - Spectrometers

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    GOME

    The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) was a nadir-scanning ultraviolet and visible spectrometer for global monitoring of atmospheric Ozone.

  • Instrument - Spectrometers

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    GOMOS

    GOMOS is a medium resolution spectrometer covering the wavelength range from 250 nm to 950 nm.

  • Instrument - Cameras

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    HRC

    The High Resolution Camera (HRC) is a black and white camera with a miniaturised telescope on the PROBA-1 mission.

  • Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers

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    MERIS

    The MERIS instrument aboard Envisat was primarily dedicated to providing ocean colour measurements.

  • Instrument - Interferometric Radiometers

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    MIRAS

    The MIRAS instrument is a passive microwave 2-D interferometric radiometer onboard the SMOS satellite.

  • Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers

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    Multi Spectral Scanner (MSS)

    The Multi Spectral Scanner (MSS) instrument was carried aboard the Landsat-1 to 5 satellites.

  • Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers

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    MWR (Envisat)

    The MWR instrument, on board Envisat mission, measured integrated atmospheric water vapour column and cloud liquid water.

  • Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers

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    MWR (ERS)

    The microwave radiometer (MWR) instrument on board the ERS-1 and ERS-2 missions provided measurements of the integrated atmospheric water vapour column and cloud liquid water content.

  • Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers

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    Operational Land Imager (OLI)

    The OLI, on board Landsat-8, measures in the visible, near infrared, and short wave infrared.

  • Instrument - Imaging Radars

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    PALSAR

    The ALOS-1 PALSAR was a successor sensor to the synthetic aperture radar on board JERS-1.

  • Instrument - Radar Altimeters

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    RA-2

    The RA-2 instrument aboard Envisat acquired radar altimetry data over ocean, land and ice surfaces.

  • Instrument - Scatterometers

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    SAR (ERS)

    The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument aboard ERS-1 and ERS-2 was capable of high precision change detection of surface heights.

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