The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) is an intergovernmental organisation created through an international convention agreed by a current total of 30 European Member States.
EUMETSAT's primary objective is to establish, maintain and exploit European systems of operational meteorological satellites. EUMETSAT is responsible for the launch and operation of the satellites and for delivering satellite data to end-users as well as contributing to the operational monitoring of climate and the detection of global climate changes.
The activities of EUMETSAT contribute to a global meteorological satellite observing system coordinated with other space-faring states.
Satellite observations are an essential input to numerical weather prediction systems and also assist the human forecaster in the diagnosis of potentially hazardous weather developments. Of growing importance is the capacity of weather satellites to gather long-term measurements from space in support of climate change studies.
EUMETSAT is not an institution or agency of the European Union, although the majority of its members are EU member states. The organisation became a signatory to the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters in 2012, thus providing for the global charitable use of its space assets.
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Member and cooperating states
The national mandatory contributions of member states are proportional to their gross national income. However, the cooperating countries contribute only half of the fee they would pay for full membership. The convention establishing EUMETSAT was opened for signature in 1983 and entered into force on 19 June 1986.
Satellite programmes
There are two types of programmes:
Geostationary satellites, providing a continuous view of the Earth disc from a stationary position in space.
Polar-orbiting satellites, flying at a much lower altitude, sending back more precise details about atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles, although with less frequent global coverage.
Geostationary satellites
The provision of geostationary satellite data for european weather forecasting and climate monitoring is enabled by the Meteosat series of satellites, operated by EUMETSAT, generating images of the full Earth disc and data for forecasting.
The first generation of Meteosat, launched in 1977, provided continuous, reliable observations to a large user group. In response to demand for more frequent and comprehensive data, Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) was developed with key improvements in swift recognition and prediction of thunderstorms, fog, and the small depressions which can lead to dangerous windstorms. The first MSG satellite was launched in 2002. The Meteosat Third Generation satellites, first launched in 2022, will continue this provision of data into the 2040s, with increased resolution, faster data delivery and increased diversity of data.
Polar-orbiting satellites
The lack of observational coverage in certain parts of the globe, particularly the Pacific Ocean and continents of the Southern Hemisphere, led to the increasingly important role for polar-orbiting satellite data in numerical weather prediction and climate monitoring.
EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS) Metop mission consists of three polar orbiting MetOp satellites, to be flown successively for more than 14 years. The first, Metop-A, was launched by a Russian Soyuz-2.1a rocket from Baikonur on October 19, 2006, at 22:28 Baikonur time (16:28 UTC). Metop-A was initially controlled by ESOC for the LEOP phase immediately following launch, with control handed over to EUMETSAT 72 hours after lift-off. EUMETSAT's first commands to the satellite were sent at 14:04 UTC on October 22, 2006.
The second EPS satellite, Metop-B, was launched from Baikonur on 17 September 2012, and the third, Metop-C, was launched from Centre Spatial Guyanais in Kourou, French Guiana on 7 November 2018 by Arianespace using a Soyuz ST-B launch vehicle with a Fregat-M upper stage.
Positioned approximately 817 km (508 mi) above the Earth, instruments on board Metop deliver far more precise details about atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles than a geostationary satellite. The satellites also ensure that the more remote regions of the globe, particularly in Northern Europe as well as the oceans in the Southern Hemisphere, are fully covered.
The EPS programme formed the European half of a joint program with NOAA, called the Initial Joint Polar System (IJPS), with many of the instruments on Metop also operated on NOAA/POES satellites, providing similar data types across the IJPS.
Metop-A was decommissioned in November 2021 after fifteen years in orbit, well in excess of its intended 5-year operational lifetime. The remaining satellites, Metop-B and Metop-C are foreseen to continue supporting the EPS mission until approx. 2034.
A/DCS (Advanced Data Collection System)
AMSU-A1 and AMSU-A2