InfraredAtmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI)

MetOP,

ESA

Metopis a series of three polar orbiting meteorological satellites which form thespace segment component of the overall EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS).

TheEPS programme consists of a series of three polar orbiting Metop satellites,being flown successively for more than 14 years, from 2006, together with therelevant ground facilities.

Metop-A(launched on 19 October 2006), Metop-B (launched on 17 September 2012) andMetop-C (launched 7 November 2018) are in a lower polar orbit, at an altitudeof 817 kilometres, to provide more detailed observations of the globalatmosphere, oceans and continents. The three satellites will operate in unisonfor as long as Metop-A's available capacities bring benefits to users.

The Infrared Atmospheric Sounding

Interferometer (IASI)instrument has the ability to detect and accuratelymeasure the levels and circulation patterns of gases that are known toinfluence the climate, such as carbon dioxide. The data collected by IASI hasbeen feeds into the models, for the first time showing the variable global distributionof carbon dioxide as a function of seasons and circulation anomalies such asthe Southern Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).

Itprovides information on the vertical structure of the atmospheric temperatureand humidity in an unprecedented accuracy of 1 K and a vertical resolution of 1km

IASImeasures in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum at a horizontalresolution of 12 km over a swath width of about 2,200 km. With 14 orbits in asun-synchronous mid-morning orbit (9:30 Local Solar Time equator crossing,descending node) global observations can be provided twice a day.

Thetotal amount of ozone under cloud-free conditions is measured with a horizontalresolution of 25 km and an accuracy of 5%, and total column-integrated contentof CO, CH4 and N2O with an accuracy of 10% and a horizontal resolution of 100km.