• → European Space Agency

      • Space for Europe
      • Space News
      • Space in Images
      • Space in Videos
    • About Us

      • Welcome to ESA
      • DG's news and views
      • For Member State Delegations
      • Business with ESA
      • Law at ESA
      • ESA Exhibitions
      • ESA Publications
      • Careers at ESA
      • ESAshop
    • Our Activities

      • Space News
      • Observing the Earth
      • Human Spaceflight
      • Space Transportation
      • Navigation
      • Space Science
      • Space Engineering & Technology
      • Operations
      • Telecommunications & Integrated Applications
      • Preparing for the Future
    • Careers at ESA

    • For Media

      • Media
      • ESA TV
      • Videos for professionals
      • Photos
    • For Educators

    • For Kids

    • ESA

    • Observing the Earth

    • Understanding Our Planet

    • Securing Our Environment

    • Benefiting Our Economy

    • About Earth observation
    • View from above
    • ESA for Earth
    • How to access data
    • Satellite missions
    • Mission navigator
    • EO programmes and activities
    • Copernicus
    • The Living Planet
    • Campaigns
    • The International Charter Space and Major Disasters
    • Multimedia
    • Image Gallery
    • Video Gallery
    • Download the 2018 Sentinel calendar

    ESA > Our Activities > Observing the Earth

    Envisat's instruments

    Instrument Main purpose
    Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars  (GOMOS)  To observe the concentration of ozone in the stratosphere.
    Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Cartography (SCIAMACHY) To measure trace gases and aerosol concentrations in the atmosphere.
    Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS)  To collect information about chemical and physical processes in the stratosphere, such as those that will affect ozone concentration in future.
    Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) Measures radiation in 15 frequency bands that give information about ocean biology, marine water quality, vegetation on land, cloud and water vapour.
    Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) All weather, day or night radar imaging.
    Advanced along track scanning radiometer (AATSR) To measure sea-surface temperature, a key parameter in determining the existence and/or extent of global warming.
    Radar Altimeter (RA-2)  Measures distance from satellite to Earth. So can measure sea-surface height, an important measurement for monitoring El Nino, for example.
    Microwave Radiometer (MWR)  Allows corrections to be made to radar altimeter data.
    Doppler Orbitography and Radio positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS) Gives the position of Envisat in its orbit to within a few centimetres. This is crucial to understanding the measurements all the instruments make.
    Laser Retro-Reflector (LRR) Reflects pulsed laser to ground stations to help determine the satellite’s exact position in its orbit.

    Last update: 23 September 2004

    Rate this

    Views

    Share

    • Currently 0 out of 5 Stars.
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
    Rating: 0/5 (0 votes cast)

    Thank you for rating!

    You have already rated this page, you can only rate it once!

    Your rating has been changed, thanks for rating!

    155
    Tweet
    • App Store
    • Subscribe
    • mobile version
    • ESA Observing the Earth Twitter

    @ESA_EO

    • LATEST ARTICLES
    • · Walking on the Moon – underwater
    • · Storm hunter in position
    • · Mars impact crater or supervolcano?
    • · Top tomatoes thanks to Mars missio…
    • · Mars Express v2.0
    • FAQ

    • Site Map

    • Contacts

    • Terms and conditions