Passive instruments detect energy emitted or reflected from an object and include different types of radiometers and spectrometers. Most passive systems used in remote sensing applications operate in the visible, infrared, thermal infrared, and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. These sensors measure land and sea surface temperature, vegetation properties, cloud and aerosol properties, and other physical attributes. Most passive sensors cannot penetrate dense cloud cover and thus have limitations observing areas where dense cloud cover is frequent.

NASA uses passive instruments on many of its platforms, including the imaging spectrometer aboard the Earth Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) platform, and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard the Aqua platform.

Unlike active instruments, which emit energy and collect data based on changes in the return signal, passive instruments detect energy that is emitted from the natural environment.

There are several categories of active instruments reflected in NASA Earth science data. Learn more about the different types of passive instruments featured below.

Accelerometer

An instrument that measures acceleration (change in velocity per unit time). There are two general types of accelerometers: One measures translational accelerations (changes in linear motions in one or more dimensions); the other measures angular accelerations (changes in rotation rate per unit time).

Hyperspectral Radiometer

An advanced multispectral instrument that detects hundreds of very narrow spectral bands throughout the visible, near-infrared, and mid-infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. This instrument’s very high spectral resolution facilitates fine discrimination between different targets based on their spectral response in each of the narrow bands.

Imaging Radiometer

A radiometer that has a scanning capability to provide a two-dimensional array of pixels from which an image may be produced. Scanning can be performed mechanically or electronically by using an array of detectors.

Radiometer

An instrument that quantitatively measures the intensity of electromagnetic radiation in some bands within the spectrum. A radiometer is usually further identified by the portion of the spectrum it covers; for example, visible, infrared, or microwave bands.

Sounder

An instrument that measures vertical distributions of atmospheric parameters such as temperature, pressure, and composition from multispectral information.

Spectrometer

A device that is designed to detect, measure, and analyze the spectral content of incident electromagnetic radiation. Conventional imaging spectrometers use gratings or prisms to disperse the radiation for spectral discrimination.

Spectroradiometer

A radiometer that measures the intensity of radiation in multiple wavelength bands (i.e., multispectral). Many times the bands are of high-spectral resolution, designed for remotely sensing specific geophysical parameters.