The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) has announced that it is set to sign a series of cooperation agreements with international agencies over the next few months to help meet the global challenges of improving weather forecasting and the monitoring of climate change.
EUMETSAT’s governing council has approved agreements with Chinese, Japanese, South Korean and two African agencies, which will bring mutual benefits through exchanges of data and scientific expertise.
Paul Counet, EUMETSAT’s head of strategy, communication and international relations, said, “Our member states benefit from timely access to more data from other agencies’ satellite instruments and in-situ data. These data will help improve weather forecasting, including the forecasting of severe weather events in northern Europe, ocean forecasting, climate monitoring and detection of greenhouse gas emissions. In exchange, EUMETSAT will make available its data to the other agencies.”
Each of the agreements extends and builds on existing cooperation between the agencies. Agreements will be signed with China’s National Satellite Ocean Application Service, the Korean Meteorological Administration and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.
In addition, EUMETSAT will sign agreements with the Regional Training Centre for Agrometeorology and Operational Hydrology and their Applications (AGRHYMET Regional Centre) and the African Centre for Meteorological Applications for Development, in Niger.
“EUMETSAT data and products are critical for weather forecasting and climate monitoring in Africa, especially with the upcoming launch of our next-generation geostationary satellite system, Meteosat Third Generation, which will provide a continuous view of the African continent,” Counet added.
“The agencies will use these data for the sustainable development of African socio-economic sectors, for risk management reduction, to prevent desertification, as well as for forecasting and climate monitoring,” he concluded.