The concept of temporal resolution of Earth observation data refers to the revisit time or period. This is the time, which is necessary for the sensor platform (e.g. a satellite) to complete one entire orbit cycle. During one orbit cycle, the surface of the earth is completely covered by the sensor once. Temporal resolution also means the ability of a sensor to detect changes over shorter or longer periods of time. The revisit time for Earth observation satellites is usually several days. Or to express it differently: The absolute temporal resolution of a sensor orbiting the Earth is the time required to image the exact same area at the same viewing angle a second time.
The satellite orbit itself depends on the radius of the Earth, the orbit altitude above the Earth’s surface and the gravitational acceleration at planet’s surface. The time required to complete on entire orbit cycle additionally depends on the swath width of the sensor, the overlap between adjacent swaths and the geographical location at the Earth’s surface. The repetition rate increases slightly from the equator towards the north and south, which means that the revisit time is increasing with latitude. As a result, areas located in North America or Australia, for example, are covered a little more frequently than areas in Africa or South America near the equator.
But there are satellite systems that allow the pointing of their sensor to image the same area between different satellite passes separated by periods from one to five days. Thus, the actual temporal resolution of a sensor depends on a variety of factors, including the satellite/sensor capabilities, the already mentioned swath width and overlap, and latitude.