[Satellite Today 08-21-08] The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Eumetsat) is set to play a key role in the battle against climate change. Through new satellites and partnerships with similar organizations around the globe, Eumetsat is using the latest space-based technologies to provide a better understanding of changing weather conditions around the globe.
    Meteosat is the centerpiece of Eumetsat’s next-generation meteorological satellite strategy. The first Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite, MSG-1 was placed in orbit in 2002 and was followed by MSG-2 in 2005. MSG-3 is scheduled to  launch in 2010, and Eumetsat signed a contract in July with Arianespace for the launch of MSG-4 in 2013.
    “Right now we are in a valley of the cycle,” Lars Prahm, director general of Eumetsat, told Satellite News. “We have the geostationary second-generation Meteosat satellites in operation. We have the polar-orbiting Metop satellites in operation, so we have started to plan for new programs. We are going to take important decisions soon on the third-generation Meteosats and Post EPS (Eumetsat Polar System) Metop satellites. This year, the European Space Agency (ESA) will take a decision and approve the development of the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG). In 2011, we expect to have a decision on the post EPS development.”
    The Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason-2 satellite, launched in June, also will play a role in climate change monitoring. The satellite, a joint U.S.-European venture, will map the surface of 95 percent of Earth’s ice-free oceans and provide improved weather forecasting, enhanced hurricane prediction and a better understanding of ocean climate phenomena.
    “Jason-2 is very important for both the atmospheric and oceanographic users community,” Prahm said. “… We get the wave height, which we don’t get from other satellite measurements. The wave height is an important parameter for atmospheric modelling. These observations significantly contribute to shorter-range numerical modelling for the atmosphere. It is key information for our user community as well as for those who want direct access to information on the ocean. We can also calculate the ocean currents, which means we calculate how heat and momentum are stored and moved in the ocean. This is key for long-term and middle-range atmospheric forecasting.”
    Eumetsat also will have a key role in ESA’s Global Monitoring Environment and Security (GMES) program. The organization will provide data and products for GMES under an agreement that runs from 2008 through 2010. All Eumetsat data and products will be made available free of charge to the five GMES Core Services: land core service, marine core service, emergency response support service, security and atmosphere monitoring.
    “In one year’s time we should have approval for the GMES Sentinel 3 satellite, which is an Ocean satellite within the GMES program, and we should be able to start preparations related to the operations for this satellite,” said Prahm.

Cooperation
Since climate change is a global issue more than ever before, Eumetsat is determined to form partnerships with like-minded organizations to share satellite technologies to better understand the issue. “We have quite a significant amount of cooperation agreements outside our member states,” said Prahm. “Outside of Europe, NOAA (the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) is our closest partner. We have cooperation with NOAA on the Jason satellites and the polar orbiting Metop satellites. For the longer term on ocean altimetry satellites we would like to move to ESA as our development agency. Right now, it is CNES (the French space agency) and NASA. We would like to have a broader European involvement regarding industrial development of these satellites.”
    Eumetsat also is reaching out to new space powers such as China and India. “We have [European] Council approval for a new agreement with the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) focusing on data exchange and dissemination which we have just signed,” said Prahm. “It means we will exchange all of our data with China’s meteorological agency, and we will get access to their data and distribute it to our user community. CMA will distribute Eumetsat data to users in Asia. This is a very fruitful cooperation. We have also signed a cooperation agreement with Russia. With India, we are also working very hard in this area, particularly in terms of ocean satellites.”
    With climate change becoming such a huge issue around the world, the work of organizations such as Eumetsat is becoming more important than ever. “There is a strong political wish to increase information about climate change,” said Prahm. “Actually, Eumetsat has had the world climate in its convention since 2001. Our inter-governmental convention is tasking Eumetsat to monitor climate and contribute to climate change detection. We are one of few international organizations having that in their key mandate. It is quite natural that we will increase our information related to climate change based on the increased importance of this issue.”