A geographical information system finalised to the GOME instrument (ERS-2 mission)

The necessary conceptual requirements and operational steps in order to build up a specialised geographical information system (GIS) are described. Such a GIS is finalised to the GOME (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment) instrument, spectrometer that will be added to the original ERS-1 payload as a complement for the launch of the second European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-2) scheduled for the of 1994. The GOME-oriented data set will allow comparisons between actual measurements and model predictions and will permit a more efficient management of the mission data and their interpretation. Data to be inserted in the GIS are both in vector (in particular the ERS-2 ground tracks and the GOME ground pixels) and raster format, obtained from many different sources. The main part of the job consists in referencing all the data to a single georeference system: the pixel determination is obtained by modelling both the ERS-2 orbital parameters (ground tracks) and the instrument scanning parameters. Average or typical values for parameters defined within each of the polygonal areas determined by the GOME ground pixels can then be stored in raster images GOME-oriented