Today on the ESA TV Service Schedule 31 Jan 2001

Today’s transmission of the ESA TV Service includes:

31-Jan-01 14:00 – 14:30 GMT

Meris presentation

One of Envisat’s new instruments

Background information on the transmission:

Tomorrow, European media gather at ESTEC, the Technical Centre of ESA, for the roll-out of the Envisat satellite.

Meris, the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer, is one of the instruments newly developed for Envisat. It measures solar radiation reflected from the Earthís surface and clouds in the visible and infra-red parts of the spectrum. MERIS will detect biophysical properties (e.g chlorophyll concentration) of the oceans and coastal water composition which are especially important in understanding the impact of human activities on the coastal environment. The Meris data can also be interpreted as large scale maps, showing vegetation distribution, clouds and water vapour.

Today’s programme on Meris is a production of Alcatel Espace, the prime contractor for the development of this instrument. It includes an English voiceover and no international sound.

More background information can be found on http://envisat.esa.int.

Transmission details:Eutelsat W1 at 10 degrees East

Transponder B5, dig ch 1, horizontal

F=11.13475 MHz, SR=5.632 MS/sec, FEC=3/4

For further information, visit our website at http://television.esa.int. For other enquires, contact Claus Habfast, Tel +31 71 565 3838, Fax +31 71 565 6340, e-mail chabfast@estec.esa.nl.