BackForwardInstrument:  MOS 

Instrument details
Acronym MOS
Full name Multispectral Opto-electronic Scanner
Purpose Observation of ocean colour, vegetation and aerosol
Short description Assemblage of three units: MOS-A (4 channels in the 763 nm O2 band), MOS-B (12 channels in the range 408-1010 nm) and MOS-C (1 SWIR channel) [see detailed characteristics below]
Background New develoment
Scanning Technique Pushbroom, arrays of 140 detectors (channels in the 766 nm band), or 299 (SWIR channel), or 384 (all other channels). Swath 200 km
Resolution 1.5 km (channels in the 776 nm band) or 0.5 km (all other channels)
Coverage / Cycle Global in 14 days, in daylight
Mass Power Data Rate 1.3 Mbps

 

Providing Agency DLR
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 1996 to 2004
Last update: 2012-09-07
Detailed characteristics

Central wavelength

Bandwidth

SNR @ specified input spectral radiance

IFOV at s.s.p.

408 nm

10 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

0.5 km

443 nm

10 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

0.5 km

485 nm

10 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

0.5 km

520 nm

10 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

0.5 km

570 nm

10 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

0.5 km

615 nm

10 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

0.5 km

685 nm

10 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

0.5 km

750 nm

10 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

0.5 km

756.7 nm

1.4 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

1.5 km

760.6 nm

1.4 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

1.5 km

763.5 nm

1.4 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

1.5 km

766.4 nm

1.4 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

1.5 km

815 nm

10 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

0.5 km

870 nm

10 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

0.5 km

945 nm

10 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

0.5 km

1010 nm

10 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

0.5 km

1600 nm

100 nm

…. @ …. W m-2 sr-1 µm-1

0.5 km

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
  • Moderate resolution optical imager
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 1
  • Narrow-band or hyperspectral imagers
  • Narrow-band imager (for ocean colour)
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Aerosol Optical Depth
  • Aerosol column burden
  • Cloud cover
  • Cloud optical depth
  • Cloud top height
  • Cloud type
  • Colour Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM)
  • Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)
  • Leaf Area Index (LAI)
  • Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
  • Ocean Diffuse Attenuation Coefficient (DAC)
  • Ocean chlorophyll concentration
  • Ocean suspended sediments concentration
  • Oil spill cover
  • Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)
  • Sea-ice cover
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
Aerosol column burden*3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth), NIR and SWIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol
Aerosol effective radius3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth), NIR (including 760 nm for high-level aerosol), and SWIR channels
Aerosol mass mixing ratio3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth), NIR and SWIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol
Aerosol Optical Depth*3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth), NIR and SWIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol
Aerosol type3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth), NIR and SWIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol
Biomass4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI and LAI
Cloud cover*5 - marginalDaylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Cloud optical depth*3 - highLow-density cloud only.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Cloud top height*5 - marginalDaylight only.NIR channels to estimate the total-column O2 above the cloud top as measured around 760 nm
Cloud type*5 - marginalDaylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Colour Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM)*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.Many narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for more water types, in open ocean and coastal zone
Downward short-wave irradiance at Earth surface3 - highCloud sensitive.. Highly indirect.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Earth surface albedo5 - marginalCloud sensitive.VIS channels
Fire fractional cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Coarse spatial resolution.. Daylight only.VIS channels
Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)*3 - highCloud sensitive.VIS channels including Red at 700 nm
Leaf Area Index (LAI)*2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)*3 - highCloud sensitive.VIS and NIR channels
Ocean chlorophyll concentration *1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.Many narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for more water types, in open ocean and coastal zone
Ocean Diffuse Attenuation Coefficient (DAC)*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.Many narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for more water types, in open ocean and coastal zone
Ocean suspended sediments concentration*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.Many narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for more water types, in open ocean and coastal zone
Oil spill cover*5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS channels with narrow bandwidth
Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)*3 - highCloud sensitive.VIS channels, range accurately sampled
Short-wave cloud reflectance4 - fairNo specific limitation.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Snow cover2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels, enabling screening snow from clouds
Soil moisture at surface5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels. Soil moisture inferred from differential brightness
Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA5 - marginalSpectral interpolation needed.. Information on BRDF needed.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels
Aerosol volcanic ash3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels including 760 nm for high-level ashes
Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and SWIR channels including 760 nm for high-level ashes
Integrated Water Vapour (IWV)4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.NIR channels in the bands of water vapour around 900 nm and 940 nm
Sea-ice cover*4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR (for contour enhancement) and SWIR (for discrimination from clouds) channels