Validation of MERIS data was performed for Case-2 waters of the Baltic Sea. The area of investigation was focussed on the western part including open sea and discharge areas of the Oder river in the Pomeranian Bight. These activities included an overview about the variation ranges of the different MERIS products, methodical investigations, as well as qualitative and quantitative validations. Pr...

On August 22, 2002, a vicarious calibration (VC) experiment of MERIS, a pushbroom imaging spectrometer on ESA’s ENVISAT, was performed. The purpose of this experiment was the acquisition of in-situ measurements of surface and atmospheric conditions over a bright, uniform target. These data were then used to compute top-ofatmosphere (TOA) radiances, which were correlated with the MERIS TOA radia...

The SemiAnalytical CloUd Retrieval Algorithm (SACURA) is applied to the SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) data. In particular, we derive simultaneously cloud optical thickness (COT) and cloud top height (CTH), using SCIAMACHY measurements in the visible (442 nm, COT) and in the oxygen A-band (755–775 nm, CTH). Some of the results obtained are comp...

The cloud fraction is an important atmospheric product needed for an accurate determination of trace gas concentrations and also cloud and aerosol properties from space-borne optical measurements. In this paper we develop a technique to determine the cloud fraction in the Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric ChartographY (SCIAMACHY) ground scenes (30x30 km and even larger gr...

This paper describes the results of a study towards the use of MERIS for land cover mapping at a national scale, using the Netherlands as a test site. Full resolution MERIS data of February 18 2003, April 16 2003, June 16 2003 and July 14 2003 were used in this study. The Dutch land use database LGN was used as a reference by aggregating the database from 25 m to 300 m. Results showed very good...

A physically based, simultaneous air/water constituent algorithm is used for automatic processing of 5 MERIS level 1B FR datasets of Lake Constance. Its sensitivity to the adjacency correction tool ICOL is tested, and compared to variations in the wavelength dependence of aerosols. Further comparisons are made with MERIS NN algorithms for eutrophic lakes and case II waters. Reference data measu...

This paper presents a first and preliminary evaluation of the performance of the algorithm implemented in the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) ground segment for assessing the status of land surfaces. First, we propose an updated version of the MERIS algorithm itself, which improves the accuracy of the product. Second, we analyze the first results by inter-comparing the MERIS Glob...

This paper presents a first analysis of MERIS-Full Resolution (FR) data to observe seasonal variations of the reflectances of agricultural fields in two regions with different climatic conditions: Toulouse (France) and Barrax (Castilla-La Mancha, Spain). The objective is to assess the capabilities of MERIS for crop monitoring. After applying an atmospheric correction method to the images we hav...

MERIS imageries over coastal waters around the United States were ordered from ESA. These data either reveal enormous phytoplankton blooms (chlorophyll concentrations in the range of 100 – 1000 mg/m) or turbid river plume waters or optically shallow environments. We used in situ measurements to validate remote-sensing reflectance derived from MERIS. Further, we applied algorithms designed for o...

This paper discusses the accuracy of the operational Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) Level 2 land product which corresponds to the Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR). The FAPAR value is estimated from daily MERIS spectral measurements acquired at the top-of-atmosphere, using a physically based approach. The products are operationally available at the...