February 4 to 8, 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

January 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 ajustement 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.

November 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 greenwhat's already done):

The programmations in EXT-CAL are done by Eumetsat control center, notaby the programmation of the 2 EXT/CAL METOP-A and METOP-B which will take place next monday to realize the first IASI-A/IASI-B intercalibration: 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"

November 7, 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 greenwhat'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 intercalibration 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 installment :)) 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:



IASI experts at Centre Spatial de Toulouse by CNES (in French)
(http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuqqau_les-experts-de-iasi-au-centre-spatial-de-toulouse_tech)

October 30, 2012

IASI/METOP-B: successful functional in-flight commissioning
This first IASI/METOP-B spectrum, acquired over the Davis strait between Groenland 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

Functionaly, 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

October 23, 2012

First heart beat for IASI/METOP-B
Here is the first electrocardiogram of IASI/METOP-B (in technical speach 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.


PDD CCM Auxiliary mode Metop-B 23/10/12

October 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.


View of IASI on METOP-B during the installation
under the fairing, in Baikonur, in September 2012.
© M. Cohen - Eumetsat - 2012

September 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.

September 5, 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 southeast 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.

August, 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 setup for the launch will take place at the beginning of September while CNES team that will perfom 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 recieved 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.

June 28th, 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.

April 27th, 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.

March 20th, 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.

December 18th, 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 boreal 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 Decembre 18, 2011.
For more information, read the Press Release (in French).

October 6-7th, 2011

Fifth meeting of the ISSWG-2 at Perros-Guirec, France

September 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 spatiotemporal 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

June 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

April 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)