List of climate research satellites

The invention of climate research through the use of satellite remote telemetry began in the 1960s through development of space probes to study other planets. During the U.S. economic decline in 1977, with much of NASA's money going toward the Shuttle program, the Reagan Administration proposed to reduce spending on planetary exploration. During this time, new scientific evidence emerged from ice and sediment cores that Earth's climate had experienced rapid changes in temperature, running contrary to the previously held belief that the climate changed on a geological time scale. These changes increased political interest in gathering remote-sensing data on the Earth itself and stimulated the science of climatology.^[1]

Name	Status	Agency	Launch	Description
ACRIMSAT	Active	NASA	1999	studies sun's infrared to ultraviolet output.
Aqua	Active	NASA	2002	carries six instruments to observe interactions among the four sphere's for earth's systems: oceans, land, atmosphere, and biosphere.
AQUARIUS	Planned	NASA & Space Agency of Argentina	2010	measures salt concentrations in ocean surface needed to understand heat transport and storage in the ocean.
AURA	Active	NASA	2004	studies earth's ozone, air quality, and climate though observation of composition, chemistry, and dynamics of the atmosphere.
CALIPSO	Active	NASA	2006	studies thickness of clouds and aerosols for understanding of how much air pollution is present and changes in compositions in the atmosphere.
CloudSat	Active	NASA/Canada	2006	monitors the state of earth's atmosphere and weather through radar, which can be used to predict which clouds produce rain, observe snowfall, and monitor the moisture content of clouds.
Deep Space Climate Observatory	Planned	NASA		To study the Sun-lit side of Earth from the L1 Lagrange point
EarthCARE	Planned	ESA/JAXA	2013	EarthCARE - Study of clouds and aerosols.
Earth Observing-1 (NMP)	Active	NASA	2001	carrying land-imaging technology, used to demonstrate new instruments and spacecraft systems for future missions.
GLOBAL PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT	Planned	NASA	2013	studies global precipitation.
GLORY	Planned	NASA	2010	studies aerosols, including black carbon, in addition to solar irradiance for the long-term effects.
GOES I - M	Active	NASA	2001	monitors and forecasts weather for NOAA.
GRACE	Active	NASA and German Space Agency	2002	observes and measures earth's gravitational field, which may help determining the shape and composition of the planet's distribution of water and ice.
ICESat	Active	NASA	2003	keeps track of size and thickness of earth's ice sheetes.
Jason-1	Active	NASA	2001	uses microwaves to monitor the height of water of earth's oceans.
LAGEOS 1&2	Active	NASA	1976	LAGEOS 1 launched in 1976, LAGEOS 2, launched in 1992 used for orbiting benchmark for geodynamical studies.
Landsat-7	Active	NASA	1999	takes digital images of earth's coastal areas with global coverage on a seasonal basis.
OSTM (JASON-2)	Active	NASA	2008	a Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM) used to monitor the height of water of earth's ocean, which help understand weather patterns such as El Nino and formations of hurricanes.
QuikSCAT	Active	NASA	1997	monitors weather using bursts of microwaves which measure wind speeds.
SEASTAR (SEAWIFS)	Active	NASA	1997	designed to monitor the color of earth's oceans.
SMAP	Planned	NASA	2013	measures soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state, which enhance understanding of processes that link water, energy, and carbon cycles to extend the capabilities of weather and climate models.
SORCE	Active	NASA	2003	monitors total output from the sun for understanding of earth's absorption of radiation energy.
TERRA	Active	NASA/Canada/Japan	1990	carries five instruments to observe the state of the atmosphere, land, and oceans, as well as their interactions with solar radiation and with one another.
TRMM	Active	NASA	1997	carries give instruments which uses radar and sensors of visible infrared light to closely monitor precipitation.
CLARREO	Proposed	NASA		Measures spectrally resolved Earth's reflectance and emitted radiation, and radio occultation derived refractivity; establishes on-orbit calibration reference; benchmarks and attributes change of climate.
ICESat-II	Planned	NASA	2015	Measure ice sheet height changes for climate change diagnoses.
DESDynI	Proposed	NASA		Measures surface and ice sheet deformation to determine natural hazards of climate.
HyspIRI	Proposed	NASA		Monitors land surface composition for agriculture and mineral characterization for ecosystem health.
ASCENDS	Proposed	NASA		Measures the number density of CO2 in a column of beneath the craft in addition to ambient temperature and pressure.
SWOT	Proposed	NASA		Tracks ocean, lake, river levls.
GEO-CAPE	Proposed	NASA		Monitors atmospheric gas columns for air-quality forecasts.
ACE	Proposed	NASA		Using lidar, creates aerosol and cloud profiles.
LIST	Proposed	NASA		Measure surface topography to look for landslide hazard and water runoffs.
PATH	Proposed	NASA		Performs high-frequency, all-weather and humidity soundings for weather forecastings.
GRACE-II	Proposed	NASA		Measures Earth's gravity field in order to track large scale water movement.
SCLP	Proposed	NASA		Measures snow accumulation for fresh water availability.
GACM	Proposed	NASA		Monitors ozone and related gases for intercontinental air quality and stratospheric ozone layer prediction.
3D-Winds	Proposed	NASA		Monitor tropospheric winds for weather forecasting and pollution transport.

References

1. Jackson, Randal (2007). "Climate Change: NASA's Role". NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory\California Institute of Technology.