13th AATSR Science Advisory Group Meeting - 6 July, 2000



This summary has been condensed from my notes. The official minutes were taken by Marianne Edwards and will be circulated in due course.

The meeting was hosted at the Space Physics Department, Leicester University. The attendees were:

David Llewellyn-Jones	Leicester University - AATSR PI
Michael Berger	ESA ESTEC
Gareth Davies	VEGA
Marianne Edwards	Leicester University - Cal/Val Scientist
Andy Harris	Met. Office
Gordon McFadyen	DETR
Peter Minnett	RSMAS, University of Miami
Chris Mutlow	RAL
Fred Prata	CSIRO
Ian Robinson	University of Southampton
Jeff Settle	ESSC Reading
Hannah Tait	DETR/ESTEC
Jane Wellins	Leicester University (Geography Dept.)
Apologies were sent from:
Elio Grohovaz	Auspace
Philipe Goryl	ESA Esrin
Cathy Johnson	DETR
Andrew Millington	Leicester University
Mike Steven	University of Nottingham
Steve Wilson	BNSC/NERC

The meeting commenced at 10:00 LT and finished at 17:00 LT.

Meeting Notes

• David Llewellyn-Jones began the meeting by welcoming the attendees and gave a short history of the ATSR program, tabling several documents and, in view of Peter Minnett's attendance, described his pivotal role in the early development of the program.
• Minutes of the 12th SAG were accepted without alteration.
• Outstanding actions from the 10th to 12th SAG meetings were closed.
• Andy Harris informed the group that the Met. Office aircraft would not be available for the AATSR validation period. He also stated that this would be his last SAG meeting as he has taken a new position with NOAA-NESDIS in Washington. Roger Saunders will represent the Met. Office at future SAGs.
• Gareth Davies described the Space Segment. The AATSR has been delivered and will undergo mechanical testing in late July. There appears to be a manufacturing/design problem with the coolers which is being treated seriously and affects both MIPAS and AATSR. The launch date has been fixed at June/July 2001. All testing (apart from the cooling problem) ahs been stable over the last few months.
• Hannah Tait described the Ground Segment. Test data have been delivered and some changes to the operational processor are envisaged. The Payload Data Segment (PDS V2) is fully functional and PDS V3 has been validated with a delivery date expected in April 2001. Test data set v7 (TDS 7) has been delivered to ESA by RAL. Final factory acceptance tests will be followed by an AATSR operational processor workshop by end of 2000. The next upgrades to the processor will take place at Launch + 3 months (L+3) and L+6 for the Level 1B data, and L+6 and L+9 for the Level 2 data. The introduction of the Land Surface Temperature product (CSIRO responsibility) will occur at L+9. Access to data products will be via ESA's web-based system for all PIs and DETR customers. A special arrangement will be made for Australian users. Dissemination of the Near-Real Time (NRT) products is still under discussion but a satellite-relay system is being planned. There will be a 3-hour turnaround to ESA and DETR users with a special ESA gateway (ftp access) for Australian users. Global GBT data will be available on this service. There was some discussion on who and how many users of AATSR there might be. The NOAA/NASA Pathfinder program was discussed in relation to AVHRR/ATSR data requirements and the NASA funded ATSR pathfinder (Simpson, PI) was mentioned.
• DLJ described the Australian mini-SAG meeting and FP discussed issues arising from this meeting. It was noted that the meeting had been very productive and that one of the main actions arising from the meeting concerning a request for access to daytime NRT data over Australia was being considered very seriously by ESA. A proposal by ESA will be given to DETR very soon.
• ME summarised recent validation activities of the AATSR team. These included the visit to the Uardry cal/val site in Australia, the review of the ENVIVIEW software package, the ENVISAT validation meeting (14 June, 2000 - attended by A. Dekker on behalf of CSIRO). Three documents were described - Principles & Definitions, Measurement Protocols, and Validation Implementation. The forthcoming validation rehearsal will take place in Oct-Nov, 2000.
• PM described validation activities at RSMAS. These consisted mostly of several ship cruises acquiring M-AERI data coincident with AATSR. PM described a recent paper on validation results from M-AERI that has appeared in BAMS.
• FP described Australian validation activities at the CIGSN sites.
• Lunch was taken from 13:00-14:00 LT.
• FP described the LST ATBD. The main outcome of the discussions that ensued were that the ATBD should be completed by October and reviewed by ESA/SAG nominated reviewers before acceptance. A discussion between Fred Prata, Andy Harris and Andrew Birks (RAL) is to be held at RAL on Friday 7 July.
• ME described the Product Handbook which will be an electronic document and downloadable. The structure and concepts will resemble a traditional handbook. There will be a User's Guide, Reference Guide, Glossary, and description of Data Formats. The electronic nature of the document will allow graphics and animations. The SAG are requested to suggest key issues for the Handbook and to review it. The Handbook should be completed by December 2000.
• ME and DLJ described the Science Exploitation Plan (SEP) that has been requested by DETR. The purpose of this document is to highlight key scientific issues being addressed by AATSR and to identify gaps in knowledge. The SEP has been divided into four disciplinary groups (oceans, land, atmosphere and cryosphere). SAG members will be requested to summarise science areas by synthesising the relevant responses to the ENVISAT AO. ME will coordinate this activity.
• SAG members were reminded of the role of ENVISAT in Operational Meteorology Meeting to be held at ECMWF on Wednesday 6 September. FP to inform David Griersmith of this meeting.
• The next SAG will be held on 11, 12 or 13 December, 2000.
• The meeting closed at 17:00 LT.

Fred Prata

7 July, 2000.