The Meteosat Third Generation Imager satellites carry two completely new instruments, a Flexible Combined Imager and Europe’s first Lightning Imager, to deliver high-quality data for better weather forecasting.

The Flexible Combined Imager is the cone-shaped instrument. The animation shows the instrument’s cap opening for operations. This new instrument is the natural successor of the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) carried on the current Meteosat Second Generation satellites. Where SEVIRI has 12 spectral channels, MTG’s Flexible Combined Imager (FCI) has 16 channels. It operates at wavelengths between 0.3 and 13.3 microns and has a spatial resolution of 1–2 km delivering a full image of Earth every 10 minutes. In addition, it can operate in a ‘high spatial resolution fast imagery’ mode, which can ‘zoom in’ on smaller areas of the Earth disc with four spectral channels, but with increased spatial resolution (to 0.5 km) and delivering data images of selected regions every 2.5 minutes.

The Lightning Imager, seen to the left of the Flexible Combined Imager, has four identical optical telescopes. It offers a completely new capability for European meteorological satellites. It will continuously monitor more than 80% of the Earth disc for lightning discharges, taking place either between clouds or between clouds and the ground. This new instrument will allow severe storms to be detected in their early stages and will therefore be key for issuing timely warnings. Its detectors are so sensitive that will be able to detect relatively weak lightning, even in full daylight.