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The Earth Radiation Budget (ERB), the balance between the incoming solar radiation from the sun and the outgoing reflected and scattered solar radiation and the thermal infrared emission from the Earth, provides information on the fundamental energy source of the climate system. To fulfil global coverage and sampling requirements, the ERB measurements have to be made from space. Broad-band measurements are necessary because all spectral regions in both the solar and infrared contribute to the radiative fluxes. Satellite data are used in a wide range of basic studies of the radiative forcing of the climate, such as understanding the effects of variations in trace gases, clouds and the surface. They also provide essential validation for climate models. All such measurements to date have been made from satellites in low earth orbit (LEO). There are strong diurnal variations in the radiation budget, particularly over land, in response to the diurnal variation of solar heating. Four LEO satellites could provide coverage of the diurnal cycle with a temporal resolution of 3 hours. At least hourly measurements are needed to resolve the diurnal cycle of tropical convection properly, and no practicable system of polar orbiting or other LEO satellites can deliver this. From the above, it appears that the only viable solution to the problem of diurnal sampling of the Earth's radiation budget is the inclusion of suitable sensors on the geostationary satellites which would allow for an essentially perfect temporal sampling. Disadvantages include the fact that geostationary satellites are much further from the Earth than polar orbiters, which affects the instrumental design, and each one can only provide a limited coverage of the globe. The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget instrument (GERB) is a highly accurate visible-infrared radiometer designed to make unique measurements of the outgoing shortwave and longwave components of the Earth's Radiation Budget (ERB) from geostationary orbit. Such measurements have not been achieved previously, and are extremely important, because they will permit a rigorous test of our understanding of the diurnal variations in the ERB: this will enable improved operational weather monitoring and permit further important developments in climate change research. GERB will be launched on the (MSG) geostationary satellite in the year 2000. Both short-wave (0.32 - 4 micrometer) and total (0.32 - 30 micrometer) radiance measurements would be made, with longwave (4 - 30 micrometer) data obtained by subtraction. The accuracy requirements (1% short-wave and 0.5% longwave) are consistent with previous radiation budget measurements. The availability of GERB on MSG will also allow a more accurate calibration of the principal Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) operational sounding instrument, SEVIRI (Spinning, Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager).
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