Towards the first operational sub-millimetre mission(s)

Abstract:

The next generation of European polar orbiting weather satellites will carry the Ice Cloud Imager (ICI), that will be the first operational sensor making use of sub-millimetre wavelengths (i.e. frequencies above 300 GHz). ICI is a conically scanning instrument having channels between 183 and 664 GHz. The first out of three ICI instruments will be launched in 2023. In parallel, the development of a small satellite dedicated to an across-track microwave instrument has started. This instrument will likely also have some sub-millimetre channels and be launched not long after ICI. In this presentation, our preparations for usage of data from these missions are summarised. The efforts range from developing a database of ice hydrometeor scattering properties, to design EUMETSAT's operational ICI ice water path retrievals.