Land Surface Albedo and Down-Welling Short-Wave Radiation Retrievals using High Frequency Observations from MSG Geostationary Satellite

The European Meteorological Satellite Organization (EUMETSAT) maintains a number of decentralized processing centers dedicated to different scientific themes. The Satellite Application Facility on Land Surface Analysis (LSA-SAF) is hosted by the Portuguese Meteorological Institute. Its objective is to provide value added products for the meteorological and environmental science communities with main applications in the fields of climate modeling, environmental management, natural hazards management, and climate change detection. Since 2005 data from Meteosat Second Generation satellite are routinely processed in near real time by the Land-SAF operational system in Lisbon. Presently, the delivered operational products comprise land surface albedo and temperature, short-wave and long-wave downwelling radiation fluxes, and snow cover. Within the project consortium Meteo-France is responsible for the land surface albedo and down-welling short-wave radiation flux products. After about seven years (1999-2007) of research, development, and progressive operational activities, a summary of the surface albedo and down-welling short-wave radiation product characteristics and performances is presented on the basis of the end of the initial operational phase (February 2007).