Earth radiation budget data from geostationary orbit

The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instrument will be the first instrument dedicated to measure the Earth radiation budget (ERB) from geostationary orbit from the year 2000 onward. GERB combines both, spectral broadband measurements and high temporal resolution. The GERB spectral bandpass reaches from 0.32 /spl mu/m beyond 30 /spl mu/m. A quartz filter inserted at every second image limits the bandpass to the region of reflected solar radiation. Every 15 minutes a complete dataset of both, solar and total spectral bands, is obtained for the whole area visible from geostationary orbit. Special focus was laid on the calibration of the instrument. The accuracy is expected to be 1% in the solar and 0.5% in the thermal spectral domain. Besides of the unique opportunity to study Earth radiation budget at a very high temporal resolution, there is high potential for synergy between GERB and other instruments and especially the SEVIRI on MSG.