<title>Meteosat Second Generation: in-flight verification and calibration of the spinning enhanced visible and infrared imager (SEVIRI)</title>

Abstract

12 The Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) program consists of a series of 3 geostationary satellites. The objectives for this program have been defined by the European meteorological community led by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and the European Space Agency (ESA). The first MSG satellite (MSG-1) is currently being developed by ESA and scheduled for launch in the year 2002. MSG-2 and MSG-3 will be procured by ESA on behalf of EUMETSAT. They will be built by European industry under ESA contract and are scheduled for launch in 2004 and 2009. EUMETSAT will launch and operate the three satellites and provide data until 2014. This paper focuses on the foreseen in-flight verification and calibration of the main payload on board the MSG satellites: the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI). It commences with a brief description of the main elements of the MSG satellite and the SEVIRI instrument. Then the in-flight verification approach for functional and performance specifications will be presented. Finally, the paper will provide the envisaged in-flight calibration method for the SEVIRI instrument.