Comparison of Operational Cloud Properties Derived from Gome/ers-2 and Msg/seviri Data

We focus on the retrieval of cloud properties appropriate for trace gas retrieval from sun-normalized UV/VIS backscatter spectra obtained from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) on-board ERS-2. A data fusion technique is applied to calculate the fractional cloud cover of GOME footprints from GOME’s Polarization Measurement Devices (PMDs). Furthermore, cloudtop albedo and cloud-top height are retrieved simultaneously from GOME measurements around the oxygen Aband by a neural network approach. We compare the operationally derived GOME results with corresponding results from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) radiometer on-board the first EUMETSAT METEOSAT Second Generation (MSG-1) geostationary spacecraft. Finally we present the latest development of the GOME cloud retrieval algorithms, including the initial results obtained with GOME-2/MetOp in the framework of EUMETSAT’s Satellite Application Facility on Ozone and Atmospheric Chemistry Monitoring (O3M-SAF).