The ATOVS and AVHRR product processing facility of EPS Original Research Article

An overview on the Product Processing Facility (PPF) for the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and the Advanced TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (ATOVS) instrument suite in the Core Ground Segment of the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS) is presented. The PPF processing will include handling of instrument data from both, Metop and NOAA satellites. Processing comprises Level 1 processing for all instruments, and subsequent Level 2 processing, using the Level 1 products of all instruments. The PPF can receive and process global AVHRR data either at full pixel resolution (1 km at nadir), which is the nominal mode for the Metop processing, or at the reduced resolution of the NOAA/GAC (Global Area Coverage) data (about 4-km resolution at nadir). The results shown here are based on prototype processors, which have been developed at EUMETSAT to support the development of the operational processors, which are being built by industrial contractors.