MERIS is a programmable, medium-spectral resolution, imaging spectrometer operating in the solar reflective spectral range. Fifteen spectral bands can be selected by ground command.
The instrument scans the Earth's surface by the so called "push-broom" method. Linear CCD arrays provide spatial sampling in the across-track direction, while the satellite's motion provides scanning in the along-track direction.
MERIS is designed so that it can acquire data over the Earth whenever illumination conditions are suitable. The instrument's 68.5° field of view around nadir covers a swath width of 1150 km. This wide field of view is shared between five identical optical modules arranged in a fan shape configuration.
Status
Operational
Type
Imaging multi-spectral radiometers (vis/IR)
Technical Characteristics
Accuracy
Ocean colour bands typical S:N = 1700
Spatial Resolution
Ocean: 1040m x 1200 m, Land & coast: 260m x 300m
Swath Width
1150km, global coverage every 3 days
Waveband
VIS-NIR: 15 bands selectable across range: 390 nm to 1040 nm (bandwidth programmable between 2.5 and 30 nm)
Applications
Ocean and Coast (Ocean Colour/Biology)
Land (Vegetation)
Atmosphere (Clouds/Precipitation)
A hardware anomaly preventing nominal dissemination of Envisat Near Real
Time (NRT) data towards the PDHS-E (ESRIN) on-line archives since around
22:00 CET on 14 January 2010 has now been solved.
The processing chain is back to nominal operations and recovery of the NRT
data is expected to be completed shortly.
EO Data Access
