Meteosat Third Generation geostationary satellites will provide observations that can speed storm warnings, drive fire detection, and enhance emergency responses. Météo-France’s Sylvain Le Moal reflects on how meteorologists are preparing for the forthcoming mission.
New ways of forecasting extreme events
“It’s been a long time in the making, and it will be really exciting to see the first images beamed back to Earth,” says Sylvain Le Moal, Head of Satellite Applications, Imagery, and Innovation at Météo-France’s Satellite Meteorology Centre (CMS).
“Meteosat Third Generation satellites will provide invaluable observations for users such as meteorologists, national weather centres, scientific researchers, and the media. Services and products making use of the data will provide new ways of tracking lightning and more effective means of pinpointing fire hotspots. It will also help scientists build long-term records that can guide responses to the global climate crisis.”
Applications that will benefit in particular include nowcasting – very short-range forecasts that can project how hard-to-predict, fast developing, and highly dangerous weather events such as storms will evolve in the coming minutes and hours.
The satellite constellation will also provide a major boost to numerical weather prediction, helping extend the accuracy of weather forecasts into the future.
Preparing for launch
Once in orbit, Meteosat Third Generation satellites will put future weather firmly in focus. But preparing the satellites for their upcoming launches is an endeavour that began some two decades in the past.
“When I arrived at CMS two decades ago, Meteosat Second Generation’s first satellite had just become operational, but planning for the third-generation satellites had already begun in earnest,” Le Moal recalls.
“Since then, member states have taken part in a wide range of initiatives and workshops that have allowed us to account for the needs of end users. Meteorologists, forecasters, researchers, and other professionals who will benefit from these satellite data have been informing the design and development of Meteosat Third Generation every step of the way.”
Meteosat Third Generation is not just providing lots of new information, with upgrades to existing satellite instrumentation, as well as novel instruments such as a new Lightning Imager.
“This will provide data that has never been available over Europe before,” Le Moal says. “To make sure we’re ready, we’ve needed to enhance our telecommunications lines, build antennas, and process algorithms to account for new information types such as lightning data.
“We’ve also been developing specialised training courses so that end users are ready to hit the ground running as soon as Meteosat Third Generation goes live. All of this has been done in collaboration with EUMETSAT and its member states — it’s a truly international endeavour.”
Sources:
EUMETSAT
Provided by the IKCEST Disaster Risk Reduction Knowledge Service System
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