An earth observation potential evaluation model and its application to SDG indicators

Figures & data

Table 1. Satellite and instrument properties.

Satellite	Instrument
Satellite Name	Instrument Name
Satellite ID	Instrument ID
Orbit	Spatial Resolution (meter)
Altitude (km)	Swath (km)
Operation start time (date)	Instrument type
Operation end time (date)	Operation start (date)
Launch Mass (kg)	Operation end (date)
Data access/costs	Revisit cycle (day)

Table 2. The number of targets and indicators that could be supported by EO from different reports (differences in targets and indicators are indicated in rackets.).

SDG	GEO/CEOS(2017)		GEO/CEOS(2018)		CAS(2019)		Ours
Goal	Target	Indicator	Target	Indicator	Target	Indicator	Indicator
1	2	1	2	1			2
2	3	1	3	1		1	2
3	4	1	4	1			3
4	0	0	0	0			0
5	1	1	1	1			1
6	7	5	7	5		1	5
7	4	1	4	1			2
8	1	0	1	0			1
9	4	2	6 (9.2, 9.3)	2			2
10	3	0	3	0			0
11	8	5	8	5		5 (11.4.1)	7
12	5	1	5	1			2
13	4	1	4	1			2
14	7	3	7	3		2	4
15	8	5	8	5		2 (15.1.2, 15.5.1)	5
16	1	0	1	0			0
17	9	2	9	2			0

Figure 1. The framework for the EO potential model.

Figure 2. Number of instruments for each indicator from 1960 to 2040 (estimated) .

Figure 3. Boxplot of revisit frequency statistics for each indicator.

Table 3. Predefined features for the potential model.

Feature	Property name	Meaning	Unit	Value (range)
${\mathit{\alpha }}_{\mathit{i}1}$	Fastest revisit cycle	The time between two successive image acquisitions over the same location on Earth.	Day
${\mathit{\alpha }}_{\mathit{i}2}$	Best spatial resolution	The maximum spatial resolution that is measured among all bands.	Meter	0 ∼
${\mathit{\alpha }}_{\mathit{i}3}$	Operational life	The time span from the instrument launch time to its out of active service time	Years	0 ∼
${\mathit{\alpha }}_{\mathit{i}4}$	Observation relevance level	The predefined value by WMO experts which determines how much relevance this instrument is with the observing variables.	1	[1, 2, 3, 4, 5] (from most relevance to less relevance level)
${\mathit{\alpha }}_{\mathit{i}5}$	Accessibility	The predefined value by CEOS which indicates whether the data are accessible via public websites or forms, or is restricted.	1	[−1,1,2] (restricted access, unkown, open access)

Table 4. Instrument type statistics for indicator 1.5.2.

Instrument types	Number of different instrument types	Percentage of different instrument types
High resolution optical imager	380	33.57%
Moderate resolution optical imager	359	31.71%
Cross-nadir infrared sounder, possibly including VIS channels	119	10.51%
Imaging radar (SAR)	75	6.63%
Conical scanning microwave radiometer	54	4.77%
Cross-track, special or non-scanning microwave radiometer	42	3.71%
Radar altimeter	33	2.92%
Scatterometer	27	2.39%
Cross-nadir shortwave (UV/VIS) sounder	22	1.94%
Cloud and precipitation radar	7	0.62%
GNSS radio-occultation	7	0.62%
Limb sounder	4	0.35%
Lidar (Doppler lidar, backscatter lidar, lidar Dial, lidar altimeter)	2	0.18%
Positioning system	1	0.09%

Figure 4. Boxplot of spatial resolution statistics for each indicator.

Figure 5. Requirements and current EO capabilities for indicator 9.4.1.

Figure 6. Life span of instruments for indicator 14.1.1.

Table 5. The final potential score of each instrument for indicator 14.1.1.

Instrument	Relevance Level	Life (yr)	Access	Cycle	Best resolution (m)	Potential score		Potential ranking
						Default	k = 2, m = 3, n = 1	Default	k = 2, m = 3, n = 1
MODIS	1	24	Open	0.5	250	7.67	13.59	1	1
OLCI	1	16	Open	2	300	7.00	12.72	2	2
COCTS	4	28	Open	0.5	1100	6.42	12.31	4	3
VIIRS	5	28	Open	0.5	375	6.35	12.27	5	4
MERIS	1	10	Open	3	300	6.50	12.09	3	5
OCM (OceanSat-3)	1	5	Unknown	2	360	6.21	11.93	6	6
GLI	1	1	Open	1	250	5.99	11.85	7	7
MERSI-1	4	14	Open	1	250	5.42	11.28	10	8
CZCS	5	16	Unknown	1	825	5.44	11.28	9	9
GOCI-II	4	11	Unknown	0	250	5.27	11.26	13	10
GOCI	4	11	Open	0	500	5.26	11.24	14	11
OCM (OceanSat-2)	4	13	Open	2	236	5.29	11.01	12	12
POLDER	5	17	Open	1	6500	5.29	10.89	11	13
SGLI	2	5	Open	3	250	5.15	10.74	15	14
MERSI-2	4	5	Open	0.5	250	4.81	10.74	17	15
OSMI	4	9	Open	3	1000	4.90	10.46	16	16
TANSO-CAI/2	5	4	Open	3	500	4.47	10.05	18	17
MOS	1	8	Open	14	500	5.62	9.73	8	18
OCI	1	3	Unknown	2	1000	3.02	5.87	19	19
METimage	5	20	Unknown	0.5	500	2.89	5.84	20	20
3MI	5	20	Unknown	1	4000	2.80	5.65	21	21
SeaWiFS	4	13	Unknown	1	800	−2.66	−5.58	−22	−22
OCM (OceanSat-1)	4	11	Restricted	2	236	−2.57	−5.43	−23	−23
MSU-MR-MP	5	8	Unknown	0.5	500	2.46	5.42	25	24
MERSI-3	4	6	Unknown	0.5	250	2.44	5.40	26	25
DPC	4	10	Restricted	1	3500	−2.50	−5.37	−24	−26
OCI (FORMOSAT)	4	5	Unknown	1	800	2.38	5.30	28	27
MUS-uv/vis/nir	4	5	Unknown	2	200	2.36	5.22	29	28
OCTS	4	1	Restricted	1	700	−2.24	−5.16	−30	−29
OCS	4	0	Unknown	1	1000	2.20	5.11	32	30
Polarimeters	5	3	Unknown	1	4000	2.19	5.05	33	31
SZS	3	0	Unknown	3	80	2.23	5.03	31	32
FLORIS	1	3	Unknown	20	300	2.43	4.10	27	33
Trasser	1	12	Unknown	10	50000	2.10	3.43	34	34
EPIC (DSCOVR)	3	8	Unknown	0	8000	1.46	2.30	35	35
APS	5	0	Unknown	30	5600	1.09	1.98	36	36