Events Archive

2015 events

04/14/2015: Monitoring in near real time of the ammonia emissions by IASI

Scientists from Pierre Simon Laplace Institute and a team from the Free University of Bruxelles succeeded in processing for the first time in near real time IASI instrument data to extract information about the ammonia atmospheric concentration which enabled to monitor continuously the ammonia emissions responsible for the high pollution of the past weeks in Europe. These works should lead to improvement of the forecast of such pollution events.

Observations of ammonia by IASI, for April 6 to 9, 2015. Major emissions are observed in Bretagne, England, Spain and in the Pô valley. © Martin Van Damme (Free University of Bruxelles).

Source: CNRS-[no-lexicon]INSU [/no-lexicon]news, the complete news is available on the INSU website (in French)

2014 EVENTS

10/10/2014: Why such an ozone pollution in the Mediterranean?

Why does the Mediterranean Basin have every summer high increases of tropospheric ozone concentrations? By relying on data from the infrared sounder IASI on board MetOp satellite, scientist from the LATMOS (Laboratoire atmosphères, milieux, observations spatiales) and the LISA (Laboratoire inter-universitaire des systèmes atmosphériques), in collaboration with Belgian scientists (Université Libre de Bruxelles) and CNES support, shown for the first time the temporal variability of the ozone concentrations over all the Basin. They also demonstrated that its mainly the meteorological conditions that lead to these summer ozone peaks.

Source: CNRS-INSU news, the complete news is available on the INSU website (in French)

03/07/2014: Decision of the CNES/[no-lexicon]EUMETSAT [/no-lexicon]Steering Committee to repair the Flight Model 3 (FM3)

An anomaly, being a de-lamination of the protection (in NiP) of the magnets, followed by an oxidation of the material in contact with the surrounding air, was seen in March 2013 on the motor of one corner cube mechanism, stored on ground. The same kind of magnets equips the Corner Cube and the Scan of IASI instruments. The researches to understand the origin of this default failed to exonerate the magnets mounted on the flight models. But no performance degradation could be observed on the mechanisms in orbit. Considering the remaining delay before Metop C launch, and the impossibility to guaranty that the magnets would not be deteriorated later, the CNES/EUMETSAT Steering Committee decided to replace all the motors' magnets. Work in this direction had been started as early as summer 2013. A new Scan mechanism is being built and will be substituted to the one mounted on the FM3. New motors are being developed for the Corner Cube mechanism and will be mounted to replace the ones that are now in place, without re building a completely new mechanism. The instrument will then be submitted to a complete sequence of tests. It should be ready for delivery by the beginning of 2016. EUMETSAT asked CNES to conduct the repair program. CNES contracted with Thales Alenia Space, developer of the instrument, for the implementation of the repair operations.

01/17/2014: First monitoring of pollution peaks in Chine by infrared satellite

Different anthropogenic key pollutants plumes (notably fine particles and carbon monoxide) in the boundary layer were detected over China for the first time from space. These studies were realized by a LATMOS (Laboratoire ATmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (CNRS / UPMC / UVSQ)) team in collaboration with Belgian scientists with CNES support, from IASI infrared sounder measurements, on board MetOp satellite. Their original results were published on line in Geophysical Research Letters review on January 17, 2014. They constitute a major progress in order to improve the regional pollution monitoring and the forecast of localised pollution events, notably in China.

Space distributions of CO and SO₂ measured by IASI/MetOp sounder on January 12, 2013 over China. From blue to red, the colors indicate the pollutant concentrations from low to high. The white areas correspond to clouds or no data. © Anne Boynard (LATMOS-IPSL, CNRS / UPMC / UVSQ)

For more details read the Press Release (in French)

You will find, also in French, a radio interview of Cathy Clerbaux and Anne Boynard at "la tête au carré", (from 14:04 to 22:14) and the topic relayed by RTBF TV news with Cathy Clerbaux and Pierre-François Coheur.

The animation about IASI and the atmosphere composition is available on IPSL website (in French).

2013 EVENTS

10/02/2013: First observation of ozone plumes in the very low troposphere from satellite data

For the first time, thanks to a new method based on the synergy measurements of IASI probe in the infrared and GOME-2 in the ultraviolet, ozone plumes located in the very low troposphere (under 3 km altitude) could be observed and their ozone content estimated using only satellite data. this unprecedented method was developed by scientists from the LISA/IPSL (Laboratory Inter-universitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques, CNRS / UPEC / Paris Diderot University), in collaboration with the Harvard-Smithsonian center for astrophysics (USA), the Karlsruhe Institut für Technologie (Germany) and the Chinese academy of sciences (China). this major progress will allow to improve the characterization and the forecast of the quality of the air at regional and global scales.

Source: CNRS-INSU news, the complete news is available on the INSU website (in French)

02/04-02/08/2013: The next IASI conference will be held from 4 to 8 February 2013

The next IASI conference will be held in Hyères from 4 to 8 February 2013. This conference will be an opportunity to review the results of 6 years of operating data from the IASI instrument on the orbiting satellite Metop-A since 2006. It will also prepare for the arrival of data from the second model launched on September 17 with Metop-B.

For more information about this conference, please visit http://www.iasi2013.com/accueil.html

01/10/2013: IASI-B CalVal activities status

Here are the last news to this day (all activities to be done are in the new PDF file, in greenwhat's already done):

• The on board processing parameters have been optimized. They will be uploaded in a few days. With these new parameters, the quality as well as the availability of the spectra from the on board processing are increased (more than 99% of availability after acquisition of the interferograms and the on board processing).
• In parallel, the adjustment of the ground segment parameters (level 1 chain) has been realized. Nowadays we have users spectra which "spectral", radiometric" and "geometric" quality is near or better than the specified requirements level.
• The inter-calibration activities has begun, confirming the quality of the data.
• A last optimization loop will begin after the first diffusion IASI-B data to a selected group of users (last delivery of the CNES on January 14, CNES/EUMETSAT (PVRB) joint meeting for the dissemination decision on January 21). This dissemination respects the initial planning. It will allow to have the first users feedback (weather, chemistry, climate) for the 3rd IASI conference (4 to 8th of february).
• Good news: A 200K decontamination is not necessary before several months

2012 events

11/22/2012: IASI-B CalVal activities status

Here are the striking news to this day (all activities to be done are in the new PDF file, in green what's already done):

• The programmings in EXT-CAL are done by Eumetsat control center, notably the programming of the 2 EXT/CAL METOP-A and METOP-B which will take place next Monday to realize the first IASI-A/IASI-B inter-calibration: what will be IASI-B results compared to IASI-A?
• The data scattering to a reduced user community is still on plan for the end of January 2013, before IASI seminar. A column showing the the progress of the operations related to this event was added to the summary file, with the expected verification level.
• A movie named "IASI-B first light" was produced. You will find it below. It will be improved for the different targeted public, in consultation with the communication experts.

"IASI-B first light"

11/07/2012: IASI-B CalVal activities status

Here are the striking news to this day (all activities to be done are in the PDF file, in green what's already done):

• All data are correctly received by the TEC.
• A new TOP (DPS on board parameters) has been uploaded (update of the non-linearity tables, effect of the decrease by 0.5°K on the CBS), the analysis is under way.
• The first performance measurements are promising.
• The IASI-A/IASI-B inter-calibration will take place by the end of November: nothing is better than IASI to compare itself!
• Everything goes as planned. The activity is intense but serene.
• The data scattering to a reduced user community is still on plan for the end of January 2013, before IASI seminar.
• The movie "IASI-B first light" is nearly finished. you will have it with the next instalment :)) While waiting, here is another movie which was realized at the TEC: IASI experts at CST, duration 3'17'', on Dailymotion. It shows off this team which work in these particular phases but also in more routine phase:

10/30/2012: IASI/METOP-B: successful functional in-flight commissioning

This first IASI/METOP-B spectrum, acquired over the Davis strait between Greenland and Canada, could be mistaken for the first spectrum obtained by IASI/METOP-A nearly 6 years ago.
It is a very good sign!

First IASI/METOP-B spectrum

Functionally, the instrument is fully operational, the "in-flight commissioning" team composed of instrument and command/control skills now hands over the work to the CAL/VAL team, located at the Technical Expertise Centre which is lead by the IASI performance expert. Now they need to finalize the fine tuning of the instrument and the processing chains so that IASI/METOP-B, as its in orbit predecessor, produce validated data that can be used by the weather forecast centers of the world, the atmosphere chemistry scientists, the air warning systems for the volcano plumes, the pollution monitoring, the long term climate monitoring...

Read the CNES - EUMETSAT Press Release

10/23/2012: First heart beat for IASI/METOP-B

Here is the first electrocardiogram of IASI/METOP-B (in technical speech the first PPD of the CCM (Cube Corner Mechanism)): it is perfect! IASI heart beats very well, promising for the next in-flight commissioning operations! IASI should open its eyes in the next few hours.

10/19/2012: IASI/METOP-A celebrates today its six anniversary in orbit

Today IASI/METOP-A celebrates its 6 years in orbit with its twin on METOP-B, still in functional in-flight commissioning.
IASI/METOP-A performances are still excellent and they will be presented during the REVEX (Exploitation Review) on December 13, at CNES (Toulouse, France).
IASI/METOP-B passed the decontamination phase that consisted in getting rid of every traces of pollutants in the detection cavity. The corner cube, mechanical heart of the instrument, has been released. The functional in-flight commissioning is nominal and should finish by the end of October. The validation and calibration phase will follow to ensure the optimal performance of the instrument as well as the ground processing chain.

The image below shows the last view of IASI/METOP-B, before its installation under the Soyouz fairing. It is one of the rare images where a "naked" IASI can be seen, without its protective elements.

09/17/2012: Successful launch of Metop-B satellite

The Metop-B satellite including the second model of IASI was successfully launched on September 17 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with a Soyuz rocket. The role of Metop-B is to ensure continuity of observations from a polar orbit. It will take over from Metop-A, which was launched in 2006 and has exceeded its initial lifetime of 5 years. The two satellites should be used together in the first place, which will temporarily allow inter-calibrations and the production a larger number of measurements.

After the sequence enabling the switching of the platform to routine configuration, the anti-contamination lines protecting the entry of IASI cold box from contamination, have been turned ON at 00h02 on the 18/09/12.
IASI is in survival configuration, the survival thermal control converge and function correctly.
After the PLM (Payload Module) configuration activities, IASI will be switched ON on the 21/09/12. IASI first level thermal control will then be activated and should converge on the 22/09/12 morning allowing switching IASI in DECONTAMINATION mode for 21 days, in order to eliminate the pollutants due to the launch and after desorption of the equipments.

At the end of this phase the cube corners mechanisms will be unlocked, the software configured, and IASI will pass in operational mode. A first initialization of the on board science data processing algorithms will be realized on the 23/10/12 for an end of in flight commissioning scheduled on the 29/10/12. Then the CALVAL phase will begin and will consist in realizing a fine tuning of the on board and ground algorithms, in order to optimize the instrument performances.

Read also the CNES/CNRS/Meteo-France press release (in French) or the EUMETSAT press release.

09/05/2012: Smelling sulphur dioxide

While piloting a commercial transatlantic flight last year, Captain Klaus Sievers and his crew got a whiff of an unusual odour. In a confined space 10 km up in the air, there was only one thing it could be.
The foul smell with traces of sulphur in the cockpit came from none other than the Grímsvötn volcano that was spewing gas and ash from south-east Iceland.
Once landed, Captain Sievers, a representative of the German Airline Pilots' Association, used data from the MetOp satellite via the Support to Aviation Control Service - SACS - to confirm the sulphur dioxide.
It proved particularly useful when planning his route from the Far East to Europe on 15 June. A day earlier, the Nabro volcano had erupted in Eritrea, spewing ash across his intended route over East Africa and the Middle East.

On 14 June 2011, the IASI instrument on MetOp-A satellite detected sulphur dioxide over East Africa and the Middle East. The sulphur dioxide plume came from the Nabro volcano in Eritrea. Credits: ULB

Read the complete news on ESA's website.

08/2012: IASI's lastest news before its wake-up in orbit

From July 31 to August 8, in Baikonur, a part of the IASI team proceeded to a functional test of the instrument, last opportunity to acquire a good health status. And... everything is ok!
The final configuration set-up for the launch will take place at the beginning of September while CNES team that will perform the in-flight commissioning will be in Darmstadt, at the control center for METOP EUMETSAT, to realise a final rehearsal.
Next rendez-vous after METOP-B launch on September 17: Switch-on around September 21, the first science data (spectra, interferograms and images) should be received by the end of October by the Technical Expertise Center team at CNES, Toulouse.

CNES and TAS IASI teams during the August 2012 campaign in Baikonur. Behind, METOP-B satellite, with IASI instrument (in the lowest left part).
Credit: ASTRIUM - 2012 MetOp Launch campaign in Baikonur.

06/28/2012: New launch date confirmed for Metop-B

The revised launch date for the Metop-B satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome has been set for 19 September 2012.
The launch campaign will resume in early July. The Metop-B satellite is being stored in a controlled environment in the Starsem facilities in Baikonur and will be subject to a set of tests and preparatory activities until its fuelling which is currently planned for August.

04/27/2012: MetOp-B launch postponed

Eumetsat and the European Space Agency (ESA) have been informed by the launch service provider, Starsem, that the launch of the MetOp-B satellite by a Soyuz rocket, scheduled for 23 May from Baikonur, had to be postponed.
The launch has been postponed for some weeks, until appropriate measures are implemented. It is expected to take place in the second half of July.
For more information, read the article on ESA website.

03/20/2012: Europe's next weather satellite gears up for launch

Following the safe arrival of the MetOp-B weather satellite in Kazakhstan, the sophisticated craft is now being carefully assembled and tested before launch on 23 May. MetOp-B will provide essential data for weather forecasting.
For more information, read the article on ESA website.

2011 Events

12/18/2011: New satellite observations revealed a link between forests and acid rains

A LATMOS/IPSL (CNRS/UPMC/UVSQ) team, in collaboration with belgian scientists from IASB(Institut d'Aéronomie Spatiale de Belgique) and from ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles), shown the existence of a major formic acid source above borealis and tropical forests. The formic acid is identified as the main responsible for the acid rains in these regions. These results, obtained thanks to infrared measurements from the French instrument IASI on board the meteorological satellite MetOp, are published on line in the scientific review Nature Geoscience on December 18, 2011.
For more information, read the Press Release (in French).

10/06-10/07/2011: Fifth Meeting of the ISSWG2 in Perros-Guirec

09/2011: The cleaning of the atmosphere by tropical storms detected by IASI

The Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer IASI allows the measurement of the tropospheric content of some atmospheric trace gases (e.g. O3, CO) with an unprecedented spatio-temporal coverage. The O3 data produced by the Laboratoire d'Aérologie with the SOFRID (SOftware for a Fast Retrieval of IASI Data) enabled us to monitor the evolution of O3 above South Asia and to quantify the cleaning operated by tropical storms over the Bay of Bengal and central India. During the highly polluted period following the Monsoon, the lower-middle troposphere of the Indian sub-continent is characterized by high O3 concentrations.
However, the analysis of the tropospheric O3 quantities determined by IASI, have shown important and fast (24 hours) decreases of these concentrations over the Bay of Bengal and India during the fall of 2008 (see Figure below). The comparison with airborne O3 data from the MOZAIC programme measured around Hyderabad airport in central India have confirmed those abrupt O3 variations. The analysis of the meteorological situation and of the air masses origin have shown that the O3 drops were linked to the crossing over India of two violent tropical storms (Khai-Muk on November 15 and Nisha on November 27). Coming from the south of the Bay of Bengal the storms have replaced the polluted air by clean air from the marine boundary layer.

Tropospheric O3 integrated columns (surface-225 hPa) determined with the IASI-SOFRID software developed at the Laboratoire d'Aérologie in Toulouse for (a) 10-11-12 Nov. 2008, (b) 16-17-18 Nov. 2008, after the crossing of Khai-Muk storm, (c) 24-25-26 Nov. 2008, (d) 28-29-30 Nov. 2008, after the crossing of Nisha storm.

Read the complete publication on "Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics" web site

06/2011: A gush of volcanic gas seen by IASI

This image shows the huge plume of sulphur dioxide that spewed from Chile's Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex, which lies in the Andes about 600 km south of Santiago.

Huge plume of sulphur dioxide seen by IASI on June 6th, 2011 - © LATMOS

Read the complete news on ESA website

04/2011: IASI measures the record decrease of ozone at North Pole

The exceptional meteorological conditions lead to an unprecedented ozone decrease in Arctic this spring. By the end of March, observations (ground and satellite) as well as French models agree and indicate a decrease reaching about 40% since the beginning of winter. This phenomenon can be explained by a very cold and lasting winter in the stratosphere which lead to an intensifying of the ozone destruction processes due to the accumulation of chlorinated and bromated compounds.

Ozone distributions measured by IASI from March 1st to April 1st, 2011 - © LATMOS

Read the complete news on INSU website (in French)
Also see the data on LATMOS website (in French)

2010 Events

10/07-10/08/2010: Fourth Meeting of the ISSWG2 in Reading, UK

09/2010: Russian fires CO emission seen by IASI

This animation shows the CO total column measurements derived from the IASI/MetOp observations from July 22 to August 22, 2010. These data are averaged over 3 days on a 0.5°x0.5° grid and only daytime concentrations above 2.2 x 18 molecules/cm² are shown.

05/2010: The Second IASI Conference acts are now available

04/19/2010: Ashes cloud under IASI eye

The Eyjafjöll ("the island mountain") volcano eruption in the south of Iceland is monitored by IASI instrument, developed by CNES and hosted by Eumetsat meteorological satellite Metop. For Icelandish volcano, Iasi measured, as shown in the animation below, the evolution of the ashes plumes. These data are then introduced in models (taking also into account for example the winds cinematics) which enable to generate the alert for the civil aviation.
IASI advantage: very precise data on the atmospheric profile (an unmatched sensitivity!), data two times a day, and thus a very performant adjustment of models.
Here after is an animation supplied by a team from ULB/LATMOS-CNRS which shows the real-time movement of the plume. The volcano emission of Monday April 19 in the morning can be seen very clearly as well as its movement above Europe.
ULB and LATMOS work on IASI data since the beginning and track the most tenuous atmospheric chemical species thanks to IASI.

2009 Events

12/01/2009: Release of the latest (free) version of 4A/OP

LMD, CNES and Noveltis are pleased to announce the release of a new version of the 4A/OP Software and of its associated Web site.

Version 4AOP2009 v1.0 of 4A/OP has been recently released and is available to licensed users free of charge.
This latest version, 4AOP2009 v1.0, is now available and contains the following major revisions:

• Implementation of the limb viewing geometry:

• Refined geometry module
• Option for limb view simulation
• Height dependence of gravity acceleration

• Implementation of the user option to simulate scattering effects (coupling with DISORT and SOS codes). Option is active only in Earth view geometry and for aerosols.
• New atlases of pre-calculated optical thicknesses:

• that make the code more precise
• that include:

• an updated line-mixing for CO2
• the new GEISA 2008 spectroscopy
• the pressure shift for H2O
• updated gas mixing ratio profiles,
• improved CFC's formulation

• Minor bug fixes in a few routines of the model
• Updated and improved Graphical User Interface

4A/OP is a user-friendly software for various scientific applications, co-developed by LMD (Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique) and NOVELTIS with the support of CNES (the French Space Agency). 4A/OP is the reference radiative transfer model for IASI level 1 Cal/Val and level 1 operational processing.

10/22/2009: Second IASI Exploitation Review (REVEX)

IASI REVEX objective is to present the in-flight model "health status", to present the status of the models stored on ground, to present the instrument performances status as well as, EUMETSAT operating METOP, to briefly present the operations context. Then the IASI data use aspects (meteorological centers, scientific use) will be discussed.

10/2/2009: Third Meeting of the ISSWG2 in Toulouse

06/19/2009: First global ammonia distribution derived from infrared satellite observations

Ammonia is a significant atmospheric pollutant, accelerating the formation of particulate matter and damaging aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Infrared measurements of ammonia concentrations, obtained by the IASI/MetOp satellite, suggest that ammonia emissions in the Northern Hemisphere have been markedly underestimated. These results are in Nature Geoscience advance online publication, Published online: 21 June 2009, doi:10.1038/ngeo551.

© ULB, CNES and INSU-CNRS" class="shutterset">
Ammonia distributions in 2008 measured by IASI/MetOp above Europe, superposed to an image acquired by MODIS instrument [MODIS Image, L. Gonzalez et C. Deroo (LOA and Lille University)]. From yellow to red, the colors show the ammonia concentrations higher and higher. The white structures are clouds.
© ULB, CNES and INSU-CNRS

The article...

05/19-05/21/2009: MetOP RAO workshop

05/06-05/08/2009: 14th International Workshop on Atmospheric Science from Space using Fourier Transform Spectrometry

Download the two CNES presentations:

05/05-05/08/2009: Workshop on IASI data assimilation at ECMWF

04/09-04/10/2009: Second Meeting of the ISSWG2 at Eumetsat

01/2009: Concordiasi to sound the Antarctic climate

In September and October 2009, 18 drifting balloons will be released to acquire measurements in the stratosphere. Twelve of them will release 600 parachuted dropsondes to establish vertical profiles of the troposphere.
Read the complete news.

2008 Events

12/2008: Ozone... which evolution since 30 years?

The lifespan of chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere can be greater than 100 years. They are at the origine of the destruction of the stratospheric ozonee. How has evolved this phenomenon for the last 30 years? The answers by Carole Deniel, responsible of atmospheric chemistry at CNES (in french).

06-07/2008: First meeting of the ISSWG-2

The first meeting of the ISSWG-2 took place in Paris from june 30th to july 2nd 2008.

04/2008: First manoeuvre of MetOp satellite

This manoeuvrer has been perfectly done by the operation team in Darmstadt. During this operation IASI was put in heater 2 mode from this first to the second burst with timetagged command to reduce the impact on the mission.

03/2008: Second ice decontamination

Taking advantage of the PLSOL METOP on March 20th, 2008, a second ice decontamination of IASI has been performed. The external calibration measurements show that this decontamination is well done. The Gain of the IASI instrument is even better than after the first decontamination (between December 2006 and March 2008).

2007 Events

07/18/2007: IASI level 1 data now formally operational

The IASI Product Review board has decided to declare the IASI level 1 data now operational. According to the performance level achieved and validated by the CNES during the cal/val phase, and the excellent feedback from the users, the board considered that now all the conditions are met to consider IASI level 1 production and dissemination operational.

06/12/2007: IASI data already used in Operational assimilation at ECMWF (European Center of Medium range Weather Forecast)

05/24/2007: Trial Dissemination of IASI Level 1c Products

The trial dissemination of the IASI level 1c products (atmospheric calibrated spectra) from Metop-A started on the 24 May 2007 at around 12:00 UTC. First EPS Global Data Service products are now available to the European national weather services via EUMETCast-Europe.
While the calibration and validation activities are still in progress, the analysis of the instrument performances and tuning of operational parameters under the leadership of the IASI TEC (Technical Expertise Centre in CNES Toulouse) have concluded that the instrument data can now be made available to the user community on a trial basis.

2006 Events

11/30/2006: IASI First Measurement Data Available

11/26/2006: IASI Status news

Decontamination phase is now over. This phase during which the instrument was heated, was dedicated to removing water vapour outgased by the structures and MLI. Temperature is now slowly decreasing down to a target temperature around 95 K.

10/30/2006: IASI Status news

The IASI Instrument Management Unit and the thermal control unit have been activated on October 24th. Since Octobore 25th, IASI is in decontamination mode and will stay in this mode during about 3 weeks.

10/19/2006: Successful launch of METOP-A!!!

10/06/2006: METOP-A is now scheduled for launch on 17 October 2006

08/07/2006: METOP-A is now scheduled for launch on 7 October 2006

07/20/2006: Launch of METOP-A postponed until further notice

05/17-05/18/2006: 23^rd ISSWG meeting at ESRIN

05/15-05/17/2006: 1^st RAO workshop at ESRIN, Frascati, Italy

04/2006: Delivery of the satellite in Baikonur

01/2006: Delivery of the third Flight Model

2005 Events

10/2005: Flight Model 3 Optical Vacuum test

10/18-10/21/2005: 22^nd ISSWG meeting in Paris

09/2005: TEC v1.4 delivered

07/2005: OPS v3.3 software delivered and integrated in CGS

04/05-04/07/2005: 21^st ISSWG meeting

2004 Events

12/01/2004: TRB of Flight Model 2

10/26-10/28/2004: 20^th ISSWG meeting at the Met Office in Exeter (UK)

10/2004: Installation at the TEC of the NRT antenna

09-10/2004: Optical vacuum test of Flight Model 2

09/2004: Delivery of the V2 version of the OPS and delivery of the TEC

07/2004: EMC test of Flight Model 2

06/2004: Mechanical Environment test of Flight Model 2

04/27-04/29/2004: 19^th ISSWG meeting at Eumetsat in Darmstadt

04/2004: AIT of Flight Model 2 completed

03/2004: Vibration/Acoustic tests of Metop 2

03/2004: Optical vacuum test of Flight Model 2 CBS (with modifications for ice contamination)

02/2004: Thermal Vacuum test of Metop2 with PFM instrument and the test jig with cryopanel

2003 Events

12/2003: EPS CDR 2 at Eumetsat

11/26-11/28/2003: 18^th ISSWG meeting , Lannion (France)

11/19/2003: Qualification review of IASI PFM

10/2003: Selection of detectors for IASI FM2

09/2003: Integration of PFM on Metop 2

07/2003: Delivery of the PFM instrument from Alcatel to Astrium for integration on Metop-1 satellite.

06/2003: PFM optical vacuum tests including thermal qualification and performance measurements.

04/2003: PFM mechanical environment tests.

04/01-04/03/2003: 17^th meeting of the ISSWG at Eumetsat.

2002 Events

11/2002: Start of Payload module (PLM) of PFM METOP AIT.

10/28/2002: Kick off of TEC development by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young + Thales.

10/23-10/25/2002: 16^th meeting of the ISSWG in St Raphaël (France).

10/15/2002: Start of the PFM instrument AIT.

10/03/2002: Start of the operational Software coding phase.

06/24/2002: OPS PDR review.

04/10-04/12/2002: 15^th Meeting of the ISSWG in EUMETSAT in Darmstadt.

03/2002: Eumetsat Polar System (EPS) Preliminary Design Review (PDR) on going.

03/27-03/28/2002: IASI Instrument Critical Design Review (CDR).

03/18/2002: Kick Off of the Operational Processing Software (OPS) developed by THALES.

2001 Events

05/2001: Mechanical qualification of the instrument structure.

03/2001: Delivery of the second flight model of the Reference Acquisition Unit.

Space qualification and delivery of the laser first flight model.
First flight on a stratospheric gondola of the IASI balloon. This instrument has been developed by the LPMA (Laboratoire de Physique Moléculaire et Applications) and is conjointly operated by LPMA and CNES.

2000 Events

09/2000: The twelfth Meeting of the ISSWG.

03/15-03/17/2000: The eleventh Meeting of the ISSWG

The IASI Science plan is available in a zipped format (RTF document).
In the Forum (restricted) for PIs :
 

• TOMS climatology files
• IMG dataset

1999 Events

10/06-10/08/1999: The tenth Meeting of the ISSWG in Aix en Provence, France.

04/14-04/16/1999: The nineth Meeting of the ISSWG.

1998 Events

10/28-10/30/1998: The Eighth Meeting of the ISSWG has been hosted in Vico Equense, near Naples, Italy.