Operational climate monitoring from space: the EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM-SAF)

Abstract

Abstract. The Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM-SAF) aims at the provision of satellite-derived geophysical parameter data sets suitable for climate monitoring. CM-SAF provides climatologies for Essential Climate Variables (ECV), as required by the Global Climate Observing System implementation plan in support of the UNFCCC. Several cloud parameters, surface albedo, radiation fluxes at the top of the atmosphere and at the surface as well as atmospheric temperature and humidity products form a sound basis for climate monitoring of the atmosphere. The products are categorized in monitoring data sets obtained in near real time and data sets based on carefully intercalibrated radiances. The CM-SAF products are derived from several instruments on-board operational satellites in geostationary and polar orbit as the Meteosat and NOAA satellites, respectively. The existing data sets will be continued using data from the instruments on-board the new joint NOAA/EUMETSAT Meteorological Operational Polar satellite. The products have mostly been validated against several ground-based data sets both in situ and remotely sensed. The accomplished accuracy for products derived in near real time is sufficient to monitor variability on diurnal and seasonal scales. The demands on accuracy increase the longer the considered time scale is. Thus, interannual variability or trends can only be assessed if the sensor data are corrected for jumps created by instrument changes on successive satellites and more subtle effects like instrument and orbit drift and also changes to the spectral response function of an instrument. Thus, a central goal of the recently started Continuous Development and Operations Phase of the CM-SAF (2007–2012) is to further improve all CM-SAF data products to a quality level that allows for studies of interannual variability.

On the optimal method for evaluating cloud products from passive satellite imagery using CALIPSO-CALIOP data: example investigating the CM SAF CLARA-A1 dataset

“…The acronym stands for the Climate Monitoring Satellite Application Facility (CM SAF -see www.cmsaf.eu and Schulz et al, 2009) Clouds, Albedo, and Radiation dataset from AVHRR data (Karlsson et al, 2013). It is based on global historic Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data from the polar-orbiting NOAA satellites covering the period 1982 until 2009.…”

Comparative assessment of global irradiation from a satellite estimate model (CM SAF) and on-ground measurements (SIAR): A Spanish case study

“…The CM SAF was funded in 1992 to retrieve, archive, and distribute climate data to be used for climate monitoring and climate analysis. The spatial resolution of the different products ranges from 15 km 2 to 90 km 2 [17].…”

“…SIS collates shortwave radiation (0.2 to 4 µm wavelength range) reaching an horizontal unit earth surface obtained by processing information from geostationary satellites (SEVIRI sensor on board of the METEOSAT Second Generation (MSG)) and also from polar satellites (AVHRR sensor on NOAA polar satellites) [17] and then validated with high-quality on-ground measurements from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) 1 .…”

“…In fact, one main goal of the Continuous Development and Operations Phase of the CM SAF (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012) is to improve all data sets in order to develop studies of inter-annual variability [17].…”

Characteristics of cloud liquid water path from SEVIRI onboard the Meteosat Second Generation 2 satellite for several cloud types

“…Both parameters are part of the CLAAS (CLoud property dAtAset Using SEVIRI) data set by CM SAF (Schulz et al, 2009) that includes cloud micro-and macrophysical properties as well as surface albedo and spans the time period 2004-2011. The radiances were measured with the passive optical imaging radiometer SEVIRI (Schmetz et al, 2002).…”