Generation of Global Vegetation Products from Eumetsat AVHRR/METOP Satellites

In this work we describe the methodology applied for the retrieval of global LAI, FAPAR and FVC from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on board the Meteorological-Operational (MetOp) polar orbiting satellites also known as EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS). A novel approach has been developed for the joint retrieval of three parameters (LAI, FVC, and FAPAR) instead of training one model per parameter. The method relies on multi-output Gaussian Processes Regression (GPR) trained over PROSAIL EPS simulations. A sensitivity analysis is performed to assess several sources of uncertainties in retrievals and maximize the positive impact of modeling the noise in training simulations. We describes the main features of the operational processing chain along with the current status of the global EPS vegetation products, including details about its overall quality and preliminary assessment of the products based on intercomparsion with equivalent (MODIS, PROBA-V) satellite vegetation products.