Table of Contents

I. Introduction

This section introduces the lesson and provides basic information on the Meteosat and GOES satellites and imagery enhancements.

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II. Definition of Radiance

This section introduces the concept of radiation and explains the units. The radiation from a source identifies its brightness temperature, which is calculated through the Planck function.

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III. Sun-Earth-Atmosphere Energy System

The satellite detects both reflected solar (visible) and earth emitted (infrared) energy. That energy is selectively scattered, transmitted, or absorbed and re-emitted by the atmosphere.

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IV. Radiative Transfer Equation

Beer's Law describes attenuation of radiation by the atmosphere as a function of wavelength and absorbing molecules. The radiative transfer equation includes surface and atmospheric contributions to the detected radiance.

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V. Selective Absorption

This section characterises the spectral regions of the Meteosat Imager's two infrared channels. Window regions and absorption bands of the infrared spectrum are shown.

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VI. Channel Selection

This section provides in-depth descriptions of the Meteosat Imager channels, shows example imagery, and introduces various applications.

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