On 20 February 2001, a converted Russian ICBM delivered Odin, a small Swedish satellite, into low Earth orbit. One of the sensors onboard is a small Canadian spectrometer called OSIRIS. By measuring scattered sunlight from Earth's horizon, or limb, OSIRIS is able to deduce the abundance of trace gases and particles from the upper troposphere into the lower thermosphere. Designed and built on a modest budget, OSIRIS has exceeded not only its 2-yr lifetime but also all expectations. With more than a decade of continuous data, OSIRIS has recorded over 1.8 million limb scans. The complexities associated with unraveling scattered light in order to convert OSIRIS spectra into highquality geophysical profiles have forced the OSIRIS team to develop leading-edge algorithms and computer models. These profiles are being used to help address many science questions, including the coupling of atmospheric regions (e.g., stratosphere–troposphere exchange) and the budgets and trends in ozone, nitrogen, bromine, and other species. One specific example is the distribution and abundance of upper-tropospheric, lightning-produced reactive nitrogen and ozone. Arguably OSIRIS's most important contributions come from its aerosol measurements, including detection and characterization of subvisual cirrus and polar stratospheric and mesospheric clouds. OSIRIS also provides a unique view of the stratospheric aerosol layer, and it is able to identify and track perturbations from volcanic activity and biomass burning.

A new generation of integrated sea surface temperature (SST) data products are being provided by the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) High-Resolution SST Pilot Project (GHRSST-PP). These combine in near-real time various SST data products from several different satellite sensors and in situ observations and maintain the fine spatial and temporal resolution needed by SST inputs to operational models. The practical realization of such an approach is complicated by the characteristic differences that exist between measurements of SST obtained from subsurface in-water sensors, and satellite microwave and satellite infrared radiometer systems. Furthermore, diurnal variability of SST within a 24-h period, manifested as both warm-layer and cool-skin deviations, introduces additional uncertainty for direct intercomparison between data sources and the implementation of data-merging strategies. The GHRSST-PP has developed and now operates an internationally distributed system that provides operational feeds of regional and global coverage high-resolution SST data products (better than 10 km and ~6 h). A suite of online satellite SST diagnostic systems are also available within the project. All GHRSST-PP products have a standard format, include uncertainty estimates for each measurement, and are served to the international user community free of charge through a variety of data transport mechanisms and access points. They are being used for a number of operational applications. The approach will also be extended back to 1981 by a dedicated reanalysis project. This paper provides a summary overview of the GHRSST-PP structure, activities, and data products. For a complete discussion, and access to data products and services see the information online at www.ghrsst-pp.org.

This paper reports on a new satellite sensor, the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) experiment. GERB is designed to make the first measurements of the Earth's radiation budget from geostationary orbit. Measurements at high absolute accuracy of the reflected sunlight from the Earth, and the thermal radiation emitted by the Earth are made every 15 min, with a spatial resolution at the subsatellite point of 44.6 km (north–south) by 39.3 km (east–west). With knowledge of the incoming solar constant, this gives the primary forcing and response components of the top-of-atmosphere radiation. The first GERB instrument is an instrument of opportunity on Meteosat-8, a new spin-stabilized spacecraft platform also carrying the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared (SEVIRI) sensor, which is currently positioned over the equator at 3.5°W. This overview of the project includes a description of the instrument design and its preflight and in-flight calibration. An evaluation of the instrument performance after its first year in orbit, including comparisons with data from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) satellite sensors and with output from numerical models, are also presented. After a brief summary of the data processing system and data products, some of the scientific studies that are being undertaken using these early data are described. This marks the beginning of a decade or more of observations from GERB, as subsequent models will fly on each of the four Meteosat Second Generation satellites.