Eric C. Sawyer

The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget Project

This paper reports on a new satellite sensor, the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) experiment. GERB is designed to make the first measurements of the Earths radiation budget from geostationary orbit. Measurements at high absolute accuracy of the reflected sunlight from the Earth, and the thermal radiation emitted by the Earth are made every 15 min, with a spatial resolution at the subsatellite point of 44.6 km (north–south) by 39.3 km (east–west). With knowledge of the incoming solar constant, this gives the primary forcing and response components of the top-of-atmosphere radiation. The first GERB instrument is an instrument of opportunity on Meteosat-8, a new spin-stabilized spacecraft platform also carrying the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared (SEVIRI) sensor, which is currently positioned over the equator at 3.5°W. This overview of the project includes a description of the instrument design and its preflight and in-flight calibration. An evaluation of the instrument performance after ...

Project overview of OPTIMOS-EVE: the fibre-fed multi-object spectrograph for the E-ELT

OPTIMOS-EVE (OPTical Infrared Multi Object Spectrograph - Extreme Visual Explorer) is the fibre fed multi object spectrograph proposed for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), planned to be operational in 2018 at Cerro Armazones (Chile). It is designed to provide a spectral resolution of 6000, 18000 or 30000, at wavelengths from 370 nm to 1.7 μm, combined with a high multiplex (>200) and a large spectral coverage. Additionally medium and large IFUs are available. The system consists of three main modules: a fibre positioning system, fibres and a spectrograph. The recently finished OPTIMOS-EVE Phase-A study, carried out within the framework of the ESO E-ELT instrumentation studies, has been performed by an international consortium consisting of institutes from France, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Italy. All three main science themes of the E-ELT are covered by this instrument: Planets and Stars; Stars and Galaxies; Galaxies and Cosmology. This paper gives an overview of the OPTIMOS-EVE project, describing the science cases, top level requirements, the overall technical concept and the project management approach. It includes a description of the consortium, highlights of the science drivers and resulting science requirements, an overview of the instrument design and telescope interfaces, the operational concept, expected performance, work breakdown and management structure for the construction of the instrument, cost and schedule.

The geostationary Earth radiation budget (GERB) instrument on EUMETSAT's MSG satellite

Abstract Geostationary Earth radiation budget (GERB) is an Announcement of Opportunity Instrument for EUMETSATs Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite. GERB will make accurate measurements of the Earth Radiation Budget from geostationary orbit, provide an absolute reference calibration for LEO Earth radiation budget instruments and allow studies of the energetics of atmospheric processes. By operating from geostationary orbit, measurements may be made many times a day, thereby providing essentially perfect diurnal sampling of the radiation balance between reflected and emitted radiance for that area of the globe within the field of view. GERB will thus complement other instruments which operate in low orbit and give complete global coverage, but with poor and biased time resolution. GERB measures infrared radiation in two wavelength bands: 0.32–4.0 and 0.32– 30 μm , with a pixel element size of 44 km at sub-satellite point. This paper gives an overview of the project and concentrates on the design and development of the instrument and ground testing and calibration, and lessons learnt from a short time scale low-budget project. The instrument was delivered for integration on the MSG platform in April 1999 ready for the proposed launch in October 2000, which has now been delayed probably to early 2002. The ground segment is being undertaken by RAL and RMIB and produces near real-time data for meteorological applications in conjunction with the main MSG imager—SEVERI. Climate research and other applications which are being developed under a EU Framework IV pilot project will be served by fully processed data. Because of the relevance of the observations to climate change, it is planned to maintain an operating instrument in orbit for at least 3.5 years. Two further GERB instruments are being built for subsequent launches of MSG.

GERB: An Earth Radiation Budget instrument on second generation meteosat

Abstract The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instrument is described. GERB will be the first spectral broadband instrument on a geostationary platform. GERB 1 is scheduled for launch on the first Meteosat Second Generation (MSG1) satellite in October 2000. Every 15 minutes, a complete image of the visible part of the Earth is transmitted in two channels: shortwave (0.32μm – 4.0μm) and total (0.32μm -> 30μm). The Earths thermal emission is deduced by subtraction.

Fibre positioning revisited: the use of an off-the-shelf assembly robot for OPTIMOS-EVE

The OPTIMOS-EVE instrument proposed for the E-ELT aims to use the maximum field of view available to the E-ELT in the limit of natural or ground-layer-corrected seeing for high multiplex fibre-fed multi-object spectroscopy in the visible and near-IR. At the bare nasmyth focus of the telescope, this field corresponds to a focal plane 2.3m in diameter, with a plate-scale of ~3mm/arcsec. The required positioning accuracy that is implied by seeing limited performance at this plate-scale brings the system into the range of performances of commercial off-the-shelf robots that are commonly used in industrial manufacturing processes. The cost-benefits that may be realized through such an approach must be offset against the robot performance, and the ease with which a useful software system can be implemented. We therefore investigate whether the use of such a system is indeed feasible for OPTIMOS-EVE, and the possibilities of extending this approach to other instruments that are currently in the planning stage.

OPTIMOS-EVE design trade-off analysis

OPTIMOS-EVE (OPTical Infrared Multi Object Spectrograph - Extreme Visual Explorer) is the fiber fed multi object spectrograph proposed for the E-ELT. It is designed to provide a spectral resolution ranging from 5000 to 30.000, at wavelengths from 0.37 μm to 1.70 μm, combined with a high multiplex (>200) and a large spectral coverage. The system consists of three main modules: a fiber positioning system, fibers and a spectrograph. The OPTIMOS-EVE Phase-A study, carried out within the framework of the ESO E-ELT instrumentation studies, has been performed by an international consortium consisting of institutes from France, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Italy and Denmark. This paper describes the design tradeoff study and the key issues determining the price and performance of the instrument.

Geostationary earth radiation budget

The Earth Radiation Budget (ERB), the balance between the incoming solar radiation from the sun and the outgoing reflected and scattered solar radiation and the thermal infrared emission from the Earth, provides information on the fundamental energy source of the climate system. To fulfil global coverage and sampling requirements, the ERB measurements have to be made from space. Broad-band measurements are necessary because all spectral regions in both the solar and infrared contribute to the radiative fluxes. Satellite data are used in a wide range of basic studies of the radiative forcing of the climate, such as understanding the effects of variations in trace gases, clouds and the surface. They also provide essential validation for climate models. All such measurements to date have been made from satellites in low earth orbit (LEO). There are strong diurnal variations in the radiation budget, particularly over land, in response to the diurnal variation of solar heating. Four LEO satellites could provide coverage of the diurnal cycle with a temporal resolution of 3 hours. At least hourly measurements are needed to resolve the diurnal cycle of tropical convection properly, and no practicable system of polar orbiting or other LEO satellites can deliver this. From the above, it appears that the only viable solution to the problem of diurnal sampling of the Earths radiation budget is the inclusion of suitable sensors on the geostationary satellites which would allow for an essentially perfect temporal sampling. Disadvantages include the fact that geostationary satellites are much further from the Earth than polar orbiters, which affects the instrumental design, and each one can only provide a limited coverage of the globe. The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget instrument (GERB) is a highly accurate visible-infrared radiometer designed to make unique measurements of the outgoing shortwave and longwave components of the Earths Radiation Budget (ERB) from geostationary orbit. Such measurements have not been achieved previously, and are extremely important, because they will permit a rigorous test of our understanding of the diurnal variations in the ERB: this will enable improved operational weather monitoring and permit further important developments in climate change research. GERB will be launched on the (MSG) geostationary satellite in the year 2000. Both short-wave (0.32 - 4 micrometer) and total (0.32 - 30 micrometer) radiance measurements would be made, with longwave (4 - 30 micrometer) data obtained by subtraction. The accuracy requirements (1% short-wave and 0.5% longwave) are consistent with previous radiation budget measurements. The availability of GERB on MSG will also allow a more accurate calibration of the principal Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) operational sounding instrument, SEVIRI (Spinning, Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager).

Extreme ultraviolet observations of the solar corona: First results from the coronal diagnostic spectrometer on SOHO

Abstract We present first results from the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer (CDS) aboard the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). CDS is a double spectrometer operating in the 151–785 A range. This region of the solar spectrum is rich in emission lines from trace elements in the solar atmosphere, which can be used to derive diagnostic information on coronal and transition region plasmas. Early spectra are presented and well identified lines are listed. In addition, examples of images in selected wavelength ranges are shown, for a prominence, a loop system and a bright point, demonstrating well the power of such extreme ultraviolet observations.

Onboard short-wavelength calibration monitor for the GERB instrument: progress

Solar diffuser based monitors are the preferred method for on- board calibration for short wavelength regions of Radiometric Earth Remote Sensing instruments where spectral matching and long term stability are paramount. This paper describes an aluminum integrating sphere, with internal photo-diode monitoring, being developed for the on-board short wavelength, (0.32 - 4 micrometer) calibration monitor of the GERB instrument. GERB will image the earth surface from geostationary orbit over a bandwidth of 0.32 - 30 micrometer and is mounted on the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) spin stabilized satellite resulting in a very rapidly rotating field of view of GERB (100 RPM). The adopted arrangement for the integrating sphere is described and its performance illustrated with supporting test data and optical modeling. Comparisons with the ATSR-2, MS20 flat tile system are made and recommendations for future calibration systems, drawn.

Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer: an extreme-ultraviolet spectrometer for the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory

The coronal diagnostic spectrometer is designed to probe the solar atmosphere through the detection of spectral emission lines in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength range 15.0 - 80.0 nm. By observing the intensities of selected lines and line profiles, it is possible to derive temperature, density, flow, and abundance information for the plasmas in the solar atmosphere. Spatial resolution down to a few arcseconds and temporal resolution of seconds, allows such studies to be made within the fine-scale structure of the solar corona. Furthermore, coverage of a large wavelength band provides the capability for simultaneously observing the properties of plasma across the wide temperature ranges of the solar atmosphere. The CDS design makes use of a Wolter-Schwarzschild II telescope which simultaneously illuminates two spectrometer systems, one operating in normal incidence the other in grazing incidence. In this paper we describe the salient features of the design of the CDS instrument and discuss the performance characteristics of CDS as established through pre-delivery test and calibration activities.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.