Free access - Decommissioned satellites and sensors

Satellite

Sensor

Sensor Type

Spectral Range (μm)

Spatial Resolution (m)

Revisit Time (day)

Swath Width (km)

Launch Time

Country

Imagery Available on

Benefit Technology

Limitation Technology

Spatial Coverage for Northland

Time Period Available for Northland

NOAA-TIROS-N

AVHRR

Multi-spectral

0.55–12.5

1100

6

2800

1978.10–2009.2

USA

Limited GEE, Earth Explorer

Large range of derived products, deep historical archive.

Limited amount of data.

Y

Only operated 868 days

Landsat (1 - 5)

MSS

Multi-spectral

0.5–1.1

80

18

185

1972.7–1984.3

USA

GEE, Earth Explorer, Google Earth

Excellent historical resource, multispectral bands.

Requires cloud masking in Northland, does not have the 30m resolution of the later TM sensor, lacks a blue band.

Y

14/01/ 1974 to 02/05/ 1979 (42 Images) 

Landsat 4/5

TM

Multi-spectral

0.45～2.35

30/60/120

16

185

1982.7–1984.3

USA

GEE, Earth Explorer, Google Earth

Produces consistent multispectral imagery, legacy of application to a range of subject areas, useful range of spectral bands, excellent support, deep temporal archive.

Requires cloud masking in Northland, relatively coarse 30m resolution limits fine grained analysis, limited temporal resolution.

Y

28/02/ 1989 to 13/09/ 2011 (492 Images)

Envisat

ASAR

Radar

C-band

10/30/150/1000

35

5/100/400

2002.3

Europe

ESA (with request), NASA Ocean Colour

Penetrates cloud, produces data day and year round

SAR data is noisy, requires specialist knowledge to process and interpret, sensitive to topography, superseded by Sentinel-1.

?

MERIS

Multi-spectral

0.39-1.04

300/1200

2-3

1150

High spectral and radiometric resolution, deep archive.

Limited spatial resolution.

Y

29/11/ 2002 to 07/04/ 2012

SPOT 5

VGT

Multi-spectral

0.45–1.75

1150

1

2250

1998.3

France

VITO Earth Observation

Deep archive and rapid revisit allows for dense time series.

Coarse spatial resolution limits use to large scale study.

Y

22/06/ 1998 to 31/05/ 2014

VGT

0.45–1.75

1150

1

2250

2002.5

France

HRG

Multi-spectral

0.48–1.75

2.5/5/10/20

26

60

2002.5

France

MFE

Preprocessed as SpotMaps, 2.5m panchromatic band.

Raw data is not accessible.

Y

03/11/ 2006 to 15/04/ 2013

ERS-1/2

AMI

Radar

C-band

10/30

1-8

100-500

1991.7

Europe

ESA Earth Online

Active SAR sensor, provides high resolution data when capture takes place in appropriate mode, deep archive when combined with ERS-2.

Future SAR sensors improved revisit rates, resolution and SNR

Y

08/12/ 1995 to 01/04/ 2004

RA

Radar altimetry

K-band

?

?

?

Provides cm accurate sea and ice altimetry.

ATSR

Sea surface temperature

1.6-12

1000

1-8

500

Provides global measurements of sea surface height and topography.

ERS-2

GOME

Atmospheric chemistry

0.24-0.79

32000x4000

1

120-960

1995.4

Europe

ESA Earth Online

Provides hyperspectral global ozone measurement over 3500 channels.

ATSR-2

Sea surface temperature

1.6-12

1000

1-8

500

1995.4

Europe

Upgraded from ASTER on ERS-1.

TOPEX/ Poseidon

ALT

Radar altimetry

7000

10

~35

1992.8

USA

NASA PODAAC

Ocean topography measurement at an accuracy of better than 5cm.

Y

JASON 1

Poseidon-2

C-band/Ku-band

?

?

?

2001.12

USA

NCEI (via NOAA)

Provides millimeter-per-year measurements of global sea level changes.

Y

JASON 2

Poseidon-3

C-band/Ku-band

?

?

?

2008.6

USA

Provides millimeter-per-year measurements of global sea level changes, tandem orbit with Jason-1.

Y

JASON 3

Poseidon-3B

C-band/Ku-band

?

?

?

2016.1

USA

Provides millimeter-per-year measurements of global sea level changes, long time series due to continuity with previous Jason missions.

Y

Hyperion EO-1

Hyperion

Hyper-spectral

0.427-2.40

30

16

7.7

2000.11

USA

GEE, Earth Explorer

Provides data capture across 220 spectral channels, with 10 nanometer increments. (30m resolution is relatively high for a spaceborne hyperspectral instrument).

Limited data availability, narrow swath, requires specialist processing (PCA etc.) to be useful.

F

11/07/ 2003 to 24/04/ 2004

ALI

Multi-spectral

0.433-2.35

10/30

37

GEE, Earth Explorer

Test sensor for Landsat development, six bands that mimic Landsat with three extra bands within the visible, NIR and SWIR sections of the spectrum. 30m resolution, 10m panchromatic.

Made redundant by Landsat, which offer better coverage.

GRACE-1/2

MSI

Gravitational anomaly

-

-

30 (month-ly repeat)

-

2002.4

USA

GEE, ESA Earth Online

Highly sensitive pair of satellites using microwave ranging to determine earth mass changes.

Y