The satellite Meteosat 9 or MSG 2 provides a large step forward in our capabilities to observe the Earth from geostationary orbit. Radiometer SEVIRI explores the Earth’s full disk with a nominal repeat cycle of only 15 min using 12 spectral channels and a spatial sampling of 3 km. One channel, the high-resolution visible (HRV) channel number 12, even has a sampling distance of only 1 km.

The infrared channels of Meteosat 9 are sensitive to the temperature of the objects and allow to detect clouds day and night. Airmass RGB is another composite product of Meteosat 9 satellite and its picture is based upon data combinations of colours from infrared and water vapour channels and it can be used day and night.