Downwelling shortwave surface flux from MSG geostationary satellite: Impact assessment on Land Surface Models and improvements on consideration of aerosol effects

Downwelling radiative fluxes at the surface level are estimated in near real time in the framework of the Satellite Application Facility on Land Surface Analysis (LSA SAF). This is achieved using data acquired by the geostationary Meteosat Second Generation satellite. The method for the retrieval for downwelling shortwave surface fluxes (DSSF) is based on a physical parameterization, which depends on the solar energy arriving to Earth, the cloud coverage, and the atmospheric transmittance, among other parameters. After many years of development and operational activities involving the DSSF product of the LSA SAF, a summary of the retrieval algorithm, some applications, and the recent improvements on the consideration of aerosol effects is presented here.