The optical imaging instruments and their applications: AATSR and MERIS

The global mission of AATSR and MERIS will make a major contribution toward s our understanding of the role of the oceans and ocean productivity in the climate system and will also enhance our ability to model and forecast cha nge. The availability of these two complementary sensors on the same platfo rm also offers new opportunities for the synergistic use of data in multi-d isciplinary oceanographic and climate studies. MERIS is primarily dedicated to observing oceanic biology and marine water quality through observations of water colour. However, it will also make contributions to atmospheric a nd land-surface-related studies. Similarly, the main role of AATSR is to pr ovide detailed Sea Surface Temperature maps, and yet it also provides the c apability to measure a range of parameters for cloud microphysics, plus sur face temperatures and various vegetation indices over land. Data from these instruments are therefore applicable to a wide range of environmental appl ication.