Supported Missions

This timeline shows the missions supported by the Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG).

1978

CZCS
1996

OCTS
1997

SeaWiFS
1999

Terra
2002

MERIS
2002

Aqua
2009

HICO
2010

GOCI
2011

Aquarius
2011

SNPP
2016

S3A
2017

JPSS1
2018

S3B
2019

SeaHawk
2024

PACE
1978 OCT 24

CZCS

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

The Coastal Zone Color Scanner Experiment (CZCS) was the first instrument devoted to the measurement of ocean color and flown on a spacecraft. Although other instruments flown on other spacecraft had sensed ocean color, only CZCS had every parameter optimized for use over water to the exclusion of any other type of sensing.

1996 AUG 17

OCTS

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

The Japanese Space Agency (NASDA - National Space Development Agency) launched the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS) carrying the Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner (OCTS) instrument aboard. OCTS is an optical radiometer with 12 bands covering the visible, near infrared and thermal infrared regions.

1997 AUG 1

SEAWIFS

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) was launched by Orbital Sciences Corporation on the OrbView-2 (a.k.a. SeaStar) satellite. The mission was optimized for ocean color measurements with a local noon (descending) equator crossing time orbit, fore-and-aft tilt capability, full dynamic range, and low polarization sensitivity.

1999 DEC 18

MODIS/Terra

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

The key instrument on the Terra spacecraft, MODIS (or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), views the entire Earth's surface every 1 to 2 days, acquiring data in 36 spectral bands, or groups of wavelengths to help improve our understanding of global dynamics and processes occurring on the land, in the oceans, and in the lower atmosphere.

2002 FEB 28

MERIS

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

The Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) is a programmable, medium-spectral resolution imaging spectrometer which acquires data over Earth whether illumination conditions are suitable or not. Its 68.5 field-of-view around nadir covers a swath width of 1150 km.

2002 MAY 4

MODIS/Aqua

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

Aqua (a.k.a. EOS PM) is a satellite in NASA's Earth Obseriving System (EOS) that orbits the Earth from south to north and passes over the equator in the afternoon. The data acquired by Aqua MODIS (or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) complements that of Terra satellite.

2009 SEP 10

HICO

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

The Hyper-spectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO) is based on the PHILLS airborne imaging spectrometers. It is the first spaceborne imaging spectrometer designed to sample the coastal ocean. During operation, HICO collected ~2000 scenes/year from around the world.

2010 JUN 26

GOCI

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

The Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) is one of the three payloads onboard the Korean spacecraft Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite (COMS). It acquires data in 8 spectral bands (6 visible, 2 NIR) with a spatial resolution of about 500 m over the Korean sea.

2011 JUN 10

Aquarius/SAC-D

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

Aquarius is the primary instrument aboard the Argentine SAC-D (Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-D) spacecraft. The instrument has 3 L-band microwave radiometers plus a scatterometer, which measures sea surface salinity. The spacecraft flys in an ascending sun-synchronous orbit and crosses the equator at 6PM local time.

2011 OCT 28

VIIRS/SNPP

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

The Visible and Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is a multi-disciplinary instrument that was first flown on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) spacecraft. VIIRS is the successor to MODIS, having 22 spectral bands, 16 moderate-resolution bands, 5 image-resolution bands, and one day-night band.

2016 FEB 16

OLCI/S3A

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

The Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) is the successor to ENVISAT's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) having additional spectral channels, different camera arrangements and simplified on-board processing. The OLCI is a push-broom instrument with five camera modules sharing the field of view.

2017 NOV 18

VIIRS/JPSS1

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

The Visible and Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is currently being flown on the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) series on JPSS-1 (a.k.a. NOAA-20). JPSS is a multi-platform, multi-agency program that consolidates the polar orbiting spacecraft of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

2018 APR 25

OLCI/S3B

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

The Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) is the successor to ENVISAT's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) having additional spectral channels, different camera arrangements and simplified on-board processing. The OLCI is a push-broom instrument with five camera modules sharing the field of view.

2018Dec 3

HawkEye/SeaHawk

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

The Hawkeye instrument, flown onboard the SeaHawk CubeSat, was optimized to provide high quality, high resolution imagery  (120 meter) of the open ocean, coastal zones, lakes, estuaries and land features.  This ability provides a valuable  complement to the lower resolution measurements from previous missions like SeaWiFS, MODIS and VIIRS.

2024 TBD

OCI/PACE

OBPG Mission Page Instrument Page

The Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) is the primary instrument aboard the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission. It's optical spectrometer will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum and enable continuous measurements at finer resolutions than previous sensors.