This computation involved: DETAILS NEEDED - COMPUTATION CREATED FOR SATELLITE COMPOSITE. deployed on Metop-B. Metop-B, launched on the 17th September 2012, is the second in a series of three satellites forming the space segment of the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS).

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<div class="introduction">Introduction</div>
<p>EPS Metop is a series of polar orbiting meteorological satellites operated by Eumetsat. The satellites are all part of the Eumetsat Polar System. The first of the series, Metop-A, was launched on October 19, 2006. Metop-B was launched on the 17th September 2012. Currently both satellites are operating in parallel.</p>
<p>Metop-B has been designed to work in conjunction with the NOAA satellite system whereby the two satellites fly in complementary orbits. Metop-B's polar orbit is Sun synchronous, so that the satellite track along the Earth is always at the same local time, in this case in the mid-morning. NOAA will continue to operate its mid-afternoon orbit satellite service as part of the Polar Orbit Enviromental Satellites (POES) system. With an array of sophisticated instrumentation, the Metop series of satellites provides data of unprecedented accuracy and resolution on a host of different variables such as temperature and humidity, ocean surface wind speed and direction and concentrations of ozone and other trace gases - thus marking a major advance in global weather forecasting and climate monitoring capabilities.</p>

<p>Instruments on board Metop-B are as follows:
</p><ul>
<li>IASI</li>
<li>GOME-2</li>
<li>ASCAT</li>
<li>GRAS</li>
<li>AVHRR/3</li>
<li>MHS</li>
<li>AMSU-A</li>
<li>HIRS/4</li>
</ul>
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