BackForwardInstrument:  MSU-SK1 

Instrument details
Acronym MSU-SK1
Full name Multispectral VNIR/IR conical scanning radiometer - 1
Purpose Land and vegetation observation
Short description 6-channel VIS/IR radiometer, 4 in VIS/NIR/SWIR, two in MWIR/TIR [see detailed characteristics below]
Background Improved version of the MSU-SK flown on Resurs-O1 1/2/3
Scanning Technique Conical scanning for contant resolution across the image. Scanning rate 50 lines/s in SW channels, 12.5 in the MWIR/TIR channels. Swath 600 km
Resolution 200 m (SW) or 700 m (MWIR/TIR)
Coverage / Cycle Global in 2.5 days (MWIR/TIR) or 5 days (SW)
Mass 21 kg Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency Roscosmos
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 1998 to 2002
Last update: 2017-03-29
Detailed characteristics

Central wavelength

Spectral interval

SNR or NEΔT @ specified input

0.55 μm

0.5-0.6 μm

.… @ …. % albedo

0.65 μm

0.6-0.7 μm

.… @ …. % albedo

0.75 μm

0.7-0.8 μm

.… @ …. % albedo

0.95 μm

0.8-1.1 μm

.… @ …. % albedo

3.8 μm

3.5-4.1 μm

0.5 K @ 300 K

11.5 μm

10.4-12.6 μm

0.5 K @ 300 K

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
  • VIS/IR imagery; realisation of a Day/Night band [in SSO]
  • VIS/IR imager [in SSO]
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Biomass
  • Fire fractional cover
  • Fire temperature
  • Fraction of vegetated land
  • Land cover
  • Leaf Area Index (LAI)
  • Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
  • Vegetation type
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
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Biomass*5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI
Cloud cover3 - highInfrequent coverage.Channels in VIS and the MWIR and TIR windows around 3.7 and 11 micrometers
Cloud drop effective radius3 - highAt cloud top.. Daylight only.. Infrequent coverage.Channels in VIS, NIR and the MWIR window around 3.7 micrometers (for differentiation)
Cloud ice effective radius3 - highAt cloud top.. Daylight only.. Infrequent coverage.Channels in VIS, NIR and the MWIR window around 3.7 micrometers (for differentiation)
Cloud optical depth4 - fairLow-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Cloud top temperature5 - marginalInfrequent coverage.TIR window channel(s) around 11 micrometers
Cloud type2 - very highInfrequent coverage.Channels in VIS, NIR and the MWIR and TIR windows around 3.7 and 11 micrometers
Fire fractional cover*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS and TIR channels
Fire radiative power1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.MWIR and TIR window channels around 3.7 and 11 micrometers
Fire temperature*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.MWIR and TIR window channels around 3.7 and 11 micrometers
Fraction of vegetated land*2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Glacier cover4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Glacier topography5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.VIS channel(s) and cross-track steering capability for stereoscopy between images from neighbour orbits
Ice sheet topography5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.VIS channel(s) and cross-track steering capability for stereoscopy between images from neighbour orbits
Land cover*2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Land surface temperature3 - highCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.MWIR and TIR window channels around 3.7 and 11 micrometers (high sensitivity to high temperature, cloud impact reduction, water vapour correction)
Land surface topography5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.VIS channel(s) and cross-track steering capability for stereoscopy between images from neighbouring orbits
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)5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS channels, range undersampled
Sea surface temperature4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Affected by sunlight.MWIR window channel(s) (cloud impact reduction)
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 surface4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.VIS, NIR, MWIR and TIR channels. Soil moisture inferred from differential brightness and thermal inertia
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 type*3 - 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
Sea-ice cover3 - highCloud sensitive.VIS, NIR (for contour enhancement), MWIR and TIR channels