MERIS FM performances

The Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), developed under European Space Agency (ESA) contract, for the ENVISAT 1 Polar Orbit Earth Mission belongs to a new generation of Ocean Color sensors which aim is to improve the knowledge of some crucial processes of our planet. The instrument development is currently carried out by an international team led by AEROSPATIALE under the ENVISAT prime contractor ship of DORNIER. MERIS is a pushbroom instrument measuring the radiance of the Earth in 15 programmable spectral bands between 390 nm and 1040 nm over a 1150 km swath width. The wide spatial extent is obtained by 5 cameras with a field of view of 14 degrees each located in a fan shape configuration. This paper presents MERIS FM instrument performance verification plan, some of the involved test set ups an the measured performances.