MTG data

Data and products from MTG satellites

The current status of data and products to be generated by EUMETSAT Central Facilities, and the products to be generated by the EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facilities (SAF).

Last Updated

19 September 2023

Published on

21 May 2020

MTG-I1 commissioning data release schedule

The release schedule for commissioning/pre-operational data from the MTG-I1 missions (FCI and LI) is tabled below. Note the status date, as this may change.

Status on 19 Sept 2023
Central facility MTG data release	Data type	Delivery mechanism	Accessible for
20 July 2023	Full disc FCI L1c data - a subset of repeat cycles (compressed)	European Weather Cloud	SAFs, for testing interfaces and for non-nominal cases
Earliest Oct 2023	Full disc FCI L1c data - a subset of repeat cycles (compressed))	European Weather Cloud	MAG and Close-loop users, for cal/val purposes
Earliest Nov 2023	FCI L1c data - continuous feed (compressed via EUMETCast)	EUMETCast Data Centre Data Store (tbc) EUMETView (tbc)	Pre-operational release to all users
Earliest Nov 2023	FCI L2 data – a subset of repeat cycles	European Weather Cloud	MAG/Close loop/SAFs, for cal/val purposes
Earliest Jan 2024	FCI L2 data – continuous feed	EUMETCast Data Centre Data Store (tbc)	Pre-operational release to all users
Earliest Jan 2024	LI L2 data – subset	European Weather Cloud	Validation partners: MAG/Close loop/SAFs, for cal/val purposes
Earliest March 2024	LI L2 data – continuous feed	EUMETCast Data Centre Data Store (tbc)	Pre-operational release to all users

Operational data and products from EUMETSAT Central Facilities

MTG Level 1 data

		FCI	LI	IRS	UVN
Disseminated in near-real time	Via EUMETCast Europe (satellite)	Compressed using CharLS algorithm: Full disc scanning service (FDSS, 16 imager channels at normal resolution) Rapid scanning service (RSS and RSS-HR: 16 imager channels at normal resolution, and 4 imager channels at high resolution)	None	Principal component scores	None
Disseminated in near-real time	Via EUMETCast Terrestrial	As above Full disc scanning service High resolution (FDSS-HR, 4 imager channels at high resolution)	None	Principal component scores	None
Available from data archive		Everything that is disseminated in near-real time	None	Full spectral radiances, Principal component scores	Daytime Earth radiances and solar irradiances in NIR and UV/VIS bands

MTG Level 2 geophysical products*

FCI	LI	IRS	UVN
Atmospheric Motion Vectors (AMV) All Sky Radiance (ASR) Clear/Cloud/Dust/Ashes Flag (CLM) Clear Sky Reflectance Map (CRM) Cloud Analysis (CLA) Fire Detection (FIRA) Global Instability Indices (GII) Optimal Cloud Analysis (OCA) Cloud Drop Effective Radius (it is a subset of OCA) Outgoing Longwave Irradiance at Top of Atmosphere Volcanic Ash	Accumulated Flash Area Accumulated Flash Radiance Accumulated Flashes Lightning Flashes Lightning Groups	State Vector Products (SVP) with: Profiles (temperature, humidity, ozone) Surface parameters Instability indexes Cloud products A posteriori error covariance matrices (COV)	Aerosol Layer Height Aerosol Absorbing Index Cloud Properties Cloud Mask Support Cloud Imager Support Cloud Analysis Support Formaldehyde (HCHO) Glyoxal (OCHCHO) Gapless Surface Reflectance Surface Reflectance Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) Tropospheric Ozone (O3) Total Ozone (O3) Sulfur dioxide (SO2)

* Disseminated in near-real time, and available from data archive.

Reference: MTG products distribution baseline [MTGDIS]

Operational products from EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facilities (SAF)

The SAF products are identified and generated as part of the SAF Continuous Development and Operations Phase 4 (CDOP 4, 2022–2027).

Products based on FCI

SAF	Product Group	Parameter	Type
CM SAF	Clouds	Cloud Phase Cloud Top Level	Data Record offline
CM SAF	Radiative fluxes	Surface Radiative Fluxes Sunshine Duration	Data Record offline
CM SAF	Radiative fluxes	Top of Atmosphere Fluxes	Data Record offline
H SAF	Snow	Snow detection and coverage	Near-real-time
H SAF	Precipitation	Rainfall Intensity Precipitation Rate at Ground Accumulated Precipitation at Ground	Near-Real-Time Near-Real-Time Near-Real-Time
LSA SAF	Surface properties	Land Surface Temperature Surface Albedo Evapotranspiration IR Emissivity Heat Fluxes	Near-real-time Data Record
LSA SAF	Vegetation	Fraction of vegetation cover Fraction of photosynthetically active radiation Leaf Area Index Gross Primary Production
LSA SAF	Wild Fire	Fire Radiative Energy Fire Emissions Fire Radiative Power Fire Risk Map	Near-real-time Data Record
LSA SAF & OSI SAF	Radiative fluxes	Surface downward LW flux Surface downward SW flux	Near-real-time Near-real-time
NWC SAF	Clouds	Cloud Mask Cloud Microphysics Cloud Top Temperature and Height Cloud Type	Software Software Software Software
NWC SAF	Aviation Products	Tropopause Folding Gravity Waves Icing	Software
NWC SAF	Winds	High Resolution Winds Extrapolated satellite imagery	Software Software
NWC SAF	Convection	Convection probability Convection trajectory Convection warning	Software Software Software
NWC SAF	Precipitation	Accumulated precipitation Precipitation Rate Precipitating Clouds Convective Rain Fall Rate	Software Software Software Software
NWC SAF	Clean Air	Temperature and Humidity Physical Retrieval	Software
OSI SAF	Surface properties	Sea Surface Temperature	Near-real-time

Products based on IRS

SAF	Product Group	Parameter	Type
AC SAF	Atmospheric Composition	CO	Near-real-time demonstrational
AC SAF	Atmospheric Composition	NH3	Near-real-time demonstrational
AC SAF	Atmospheric Composition	SO2 flag	Near-real-time demonstrational
AC SAF	Atmospheric Composition	Dust flag	Near-real-time demonstrational
OSI SAF	Surface Radiation	Sea Surface Temperature	software
NWC SAF	Atmospheric Profiles	Temperature, Humidity, Ozone	software
NWC SAF	Stability Indices	Instability Index	software

Products based on UVN

SAF	Product Group	Parameter	Type
AC SAF	Atmospheric Composition	SO2 Plume height	Near-real-time
AC SAF	Atmospheric Composition	Total water vapour	Offline
AC SAF	Surface Radiation	DLER (Directionally dependent Lambertian-Equivalent Reflectivity)	Offline
AC SAF	Surface Radiation	UV daily dose + UV index	Offline

Products based on LI

SAF	Product Group	Parameter	Type
H SAF	Precipitation	Rain Fall Intensity	Near-real-time
NWC SAF	Extrapolated Imagery	Extrapolated Imagery	software
NWC SAF	Convection Warning	Convection Warning	software

Other software products

SAF	SW group	Characteristic
NWP	RTTOV	Radiative transfer package to simulate radiances from FCI and IRS
NWP	Radiance Simulator SW	Standalone tool to simulate realistic radiances from the FCI and sounder instrument
NWP	Cloud and Aerosol Detection SW	Cloud + aerosol detection package to cover MTG/IRS
NWP	1-D Var –NWP	1-D Var software for IRS retrieval and analysis
NWP	Satellite data pre-processors - IRSPP	Pre-processor software for data from IRS producing reconstructed radiances from input level 1 principal components

Delivery formats

NetCDF-4 is the baseline format for the FCI, LI and IRS instrument level 1 dataset generation and level 2 geophysical products. NetCDF-4 offers a number of advantageous features, including:

Ability to cope with large dataset sizes — ~7 Gbytes for full disc archived dataset for MTG compared to the current ~220 Mbytes.
Datasets are self describing.
Groups allow potential for easier subsetting.

Selected products will also be available in BUFR, GRIB and other formats where required to continue an existing service.

Algorithm Theoretical Basis Documents (ATBD) and product guides

Algorithm Theoretical Basis Documents (ATBD) describe the algorithm theoretical basis for the derivation of Level 2 MTG products, providing an insight into product retrieval schemes. ATBDs usually contain a short overview over the relevant MTG instrument characteristics, followed by a general approach towards the geophysical parameter of interest, and detailed description of the underlying algorithm of the product — its physical basis, the required input data, and a more detailed description of the product retrieval method. Practical application of the algorithm, with a few results, may also be contained, together with relevant references.

Product guides serve as a non-extensive overview of the particular products. Such guides normally give the utilisation context and a description of the product, product specifications (e.g. inputs, outputs, coverage, limitations), product illustration (e.g. case studies), and associated resources and reference documents that might further assist users.