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Atmospheric Motion Vectors (AMVs) constitute an integral part of the global observing system. The heights of these vectors are determined by the target temperature, which, in the case of semi-transparent or broken clouds, is corrected for the upwelling radiance from scenes below the target. Despite the success of these methods, the attributed heights are still the largest single source of error of the AMVs. In order to improve the existing methodologies to determine the height of the AMVs alternative methods have to be employed. The potential of geometric cloud height estimates, where two satellites view the same cloud, has already been demonstrated with geosynchronous satellite data only as well as together with data from polar orbiting satellites. In these studies the cloud targets have been selected manually and the analysis has generally been based on imagery data from the visible channels. In this paper we take the methods further by applying them to geostationary infrared imagery data, using a fully automated procedure. The reason for exploiting infrared data is the capability of continuous observations also during night-time. The results presented demonstrate the stereo method as a verification and analysis tool for satellite cloud top temperature height retrievals and that it can be applied to 5-km resolution infrared imagery data from the geostationary satellites Meteosat 5 and Meteosat 7. A further analysis combining Meteosat data with imagery data from a polar orbiting satellite shows that the automated geometric technique can be extended beyond the range of overlapping geosynchronous observations, using an asynchronous stereo technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]