MATISSE: version 1.2 and future developments

This paper presents the MATISSE-v1.2 code which computes spectral or integrated natural background radiance images. The spectral bandwidth extends from 765 to 3300 cm-1 (3 to 13 µm) with a 5 cm-1 resolution. Natural backgrounds include the atmosphere, low altitude clouds, sea and land. The most particular functionality of the code is to take into account atmospheric spatial variability quantities (temperatures, mixing ratio, etc) along each line of sight of the image. In addition to image generation capability, the code computes atmospheric radiance and transmission along a line of sight with the same spectral characteristics as in imaging mode. In this case atmospheric refraction effects and radiation from high or low altitude clouds are taken into account. A high spectral resolution mode is also available to propagate radiation from a high temperature medium in the same atmospheric state as that used for the image generation. Finally, the code is developed with a modular architecture in order to facilitate its use in conjunction with external codes . This paper describes the range of functionalities of Matisse- v1.2. Computation results and comparisons with results from other codes are presented, along with future developments : Matisse-v1.3 containing an improved refraction model, Matisse- v1.4 allowing computation in the marine boundary layer and Matisse-v2.0 whose main purpose is to modelize sea radiance images with a 1 meter spatial resolution.