Free access - Active satellites and sensors

Satellite

Sensor

Spectral Range (μm)

Sensor Type

Spatial Resolution (m)

Revisit Time (day)

Swath Width (km)

Launch Time

Country

Imagery available on

Benefit

technology

Limitation technology

Spatial coverage for Northland (Y/N)

Time period available for Northland

EOS-Terra/ Aqua

MODIS

0.62–14.38

Multi-spectral

250/500/1000

0.5

2330

1999- 2002

USA

GEE, Earth Explorer, LAADS DAAC

Twice daily revisit, wide swath and deep historical archive, ever growing range of scientific applications

Coarse spatial resolution limits applicability

Y

24/02/ 2000 to date

Aster

0.52–11.65

Multi-spectral

15/30/90

16

60

1999

Japan

GEE, Earth Explorer

Large number of near infrared, shortwave and thermal bands, 15m visible bands

All bands not always captured, lacks blue band, limited temporal resolution, not captured wall to wall like Landsat so coverage limited

Y

27/09/ 2000 to date

NOAA-7–19

AVHRR

0.55–12.6

Multi-spectral

1100

6

2800

1978.10–  2009.3

USA

GEE, Earth Explorer

Large range of derived products, deep historical archive

Coarse spatial resolution limits applicability

Y

24/06/ 1981 to date

Landsat 7

ETM+

0.45~0.90

Multi-spectral

15/30/60

16

185*170

1999.4

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, SLC failure in May 2003 means that subsequent imagery has significant issues

Y

2/07/ 1999 to date

Landsat 8

OLI

0.433–1.39

Multi-spectral

15/30/60

16

170*180

2013.2

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, data can be harmonized with earlier Landsat sensors to create very deep historical archive, addition of coastal blue and panchromatic (15m) bands

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

Y

11/04/ 2013 to date

TIRS

10.6–11.2

Multi-spectral

100

16

170*180

2013.2

USA

GEE, Earth Explorer, Google Earth

11.5–12.5

Multi-spectral

USA

GEE, Earth Explorer, Google Earth

Sentinel-1

-

C-band

Radar

5*20/ 5*5/ 5*5/20*40

12

20/80/250/400

2014.4

Europe

GEE, Coper-nicus Open Data Hub, Earth Explorer

Penetrates cloud, produces data day and year round, effective 10m resolution

SAR data is noisy, requires specialist knowledge to process and interpret, sensitive to topography

Y

04/10/ 2014 to date

Sentinel-2

MSI

0.4-2.4

Multi-spectral

10/20/60

10

290

2016.6

Consistent data with a resolution suitable for landscape monitoring, large number of useful spectral bands, wide swath, easily to access and process 

Requires cloud masking in Northland, 10 day revisit, resolution too coarse to capture very small ground features

Y

11/11/ 2015 to date

2017.3

Sentinel-3

OLCI

0.4-1.02

Multi-spectral

~300

< 2

1270

2016.2

Europe

Coper- nicus Open Data Hub

Provides global, wide swath ocean colour measurement

Spatial resolution limits use cases

Y

03/12/ 2017 to date

SLSTR

0.55-12

Thermal

500/1000

< 4

1420/750

Provides global sea and land surface temperature measurements, improved from and provides continuity with ASTER, wider swath and added longwave channels

Spatial resolution limits use cases

Y

05/04/ 2018 to date

SRAL

C-band/Ku-band

Radar altimetry

~300

27

< 2

Provides global surface topography, sea wave heights and wind speed

Y

04/04/ 2017 to date

MWR

K-band

Radar altimetry

20

Measures water vapor and cloud measurements for atmospheric research

Y

04/04/ 2017 to date

Sentinel-5P

TROPOMI

0.270-0.495 (UV)
0.710-0.775 (VIS/NIR)
2.305-2.385 (SWIR)

Atmos-pheric Chemistry

7000

1

2600

2017.10

Europe

GEE, Coper-nicus Open Data Hub

Wide spectral range, processed to a large range of products useful for atmospheric monitoring, daily revisit 

Low spatial resolution limits applications

Y

05/07/ 2018 to date

Sentinel-6

Poseidon-4

C-band/Ku-band

Radar altimetry

?

10

?

2020.11

USA & Europe

Coper- nicus Online Data Access

Provides continuity with the Jason mission for detecting sea level changes

Not yet available

PRISMA

PRISMA

0.40-2.50

Hyperspectral

5/30

29

30

2019.3

Italy

ASI

250 bands provide a very high spectral resolution, allowing detailed spectral analysis for applications such as vegetation and mineral mapping, 5m panchromatic band

Hyperspectral data can be unwieldy, requiring techniques such as PCA for information extraction

Y

06/10/ 2019 to date

SMOS

MIRAS

L-band

Passive radar

35000-50000

23

1000

2009.11

Europe

ESA Earth Online

Provides soil surface moisture and sea salinity measurements

Low spatial resolution of 35 to 50 km

Y

SMAP

Radiometer

L-band

Passive radar

~10

~3

1000

2015.1

USA

NASA DAAC, GEE

Provides soil surface moisture and sea salinity measurements

Low spatial resolution

Y

04/02/ 2015 to date

PALSAR

L band

Radar

7–100

2

20–350

2006.1

Japan

GEE, JAXA

Global, seamless product

Y

2007- 2018

ALOS-2

PALSAR-2

L band

Radar

1–100

14

25/50–70/350/490

2014.5

Japan

GEE, JAXA

Global, seamless product

Y

2015- 2018