AN OVERVIEW ON APPLICATIONS AND CAPABILITIES IN THE METEOSAT IMAGE-PROCESSING SYSTEM

Since the launch of its first pre-operational model, the Meteosat syst em has evolved as one of the most well-known Earth observation satelli te projects. In particular through its imagery mission it has become a n indispensable tool for a large user community. Both the quality of t he images produced by Meteosat satellites and their processing ongroun d have been continuously improved in recent years. This paper is a sho rt review of the present capabilities and applications of the Meteosat image processing at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC, Darms tadt). It starts with a brief overview on available hardware tools for real-time and offline processing of Meteosat images. Geometrical imag e restoration and radiometric quality control are the main tasks in th is area. But in addition a number of dedicated (software) tools and te st set-ups had to be developed for special testing of the satellite pe rformance, for instance during the commissioning of a new spacecraft. Finally, a short summary on current studies and new developments relat ed to the Meteosat imagery mission concludes this review.