EUMETSAT Optimal Cloud Analysis Products: Performance and Insights from Operational MTG/FCI Products and Early EPS-SG/METimage Observations

The Optical Cloud Analysis (OCA) is EUMETSAT’s most comprehensive cloud retrieval algorithm, providing a consistent and physically based characterization of cloud top height and microphysical properties from multispectral visible to thermal infrared imaging observations. OCA products have a long and well-established heritage, having been routinely generated from the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) / SEVIRI instrument for nearly two decades. These products have been widely distributed to the user community and extensively validated, establishing OCA as a reference cloud dataset within the EUMETSAT product portfolio.

In this contribution, we present the extension of the OCA product line to the new generation of EUMETSAT imaging instruments, namely the Flexible Combined Imager (FCI) onboard Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) and the METimage instrument onboard the EUMETSAT Polar System Second Generation (EPS-SG). OCA products derived from MTG/FCI are now operational, benefiting from enhanced spectral coverage, improved spatial resolution, and increased radiometric performance. In parallel, OCA products based on METimage observations are currently available as early test products.

Ensuring consistency across sensors and orbital configurations is a key objective of EUMETSAT’s validation and quality monitoring activities. These efforts rely on independent active radar and lidar measurements from both space-based (EarthCARE) and ground-based (ACTRIS-Cloudnet) observing systems. We present the results of the validation of OCA products against both space- and ground-based reference retrievals.