IASI PFM-R In-Flight Commissioning

The MetOp-B satellite has been successfully launched from Baïkonour on September 17th 2012.
The IASI instrument in orbit commissioning includes 2 phases. The first one is the functional validation which is dedicated to the verification of the good behaviour of the instrument. The second one is the CAL/VAL phase (calibration/validation) which concerns the detailed performance characterisation, the validation of the measurement with comparison with others instruments and the tuning of the data processing parameters.

Functional Validation

The IASI system in orbit verification (SIOV) started the 17th September 2012 (launch) and ended successfully the 25th October 2012.

The first IASI-B interferograms were received on the 23rd October. The 24th October, the first IASI-B spectrum was computed on board

Calibration / Validation

The calibration/validation (Cal/Val) activities have begun when the first goal of the commissioning phase was achieved: to establish a stable and nominal behaviour of the system.

• Health parameters of the instrument are monitored by the ground
• External calibration and Normal operation modes are operational
• DPS (on-board treatment) is initialized
• All the needed products are verified and available at the IASI TEC

The calibration/validation phase (CAL/VAL) lasted 6 months: from the 23rd October 2012 to 15th April 2013.
The general goals of the IASI Level 1 product Cal/Val activities are to ensure that:

• After the Level 1 commissioning phase and thereafter during the mission lifetime, the IASI products meet their requirements (radiometric, spectral and geometric).
• At user level, all potential instrument artefacts have been removed.

The following specific objectives drive the product Cal/Val activities for IASI Level 1:

• Healthy, fully characterized and calibrated IASI instrument
• Verified IASI Level 1 product against performance requirements
• Validated IASI Level 1, i.e., a good understanding of the quality of the products with respect to independent data in order to assess whether they meet specifications

The Cal/Val activities include 2 main successive phases:

• Phase A : from the first interferogram received at TEC (23rd October 2012) to EUMETSAT L1 trial dissemination to Cal/Val partners (22nd January 2013)
• Phase B: from the end of Phase A to EUMETSAT L1 operational dissemination (End of April 2013)
  The accuracy of the validation and diversity of the conditions in which the validations are performed increase with time.