European communities and their economies will be the direct beneficiaries of the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) meteorological satellite system, which will begin deploying later this year, according to EUMETSAT’s director-general.
The European Environment Agency estimates that weather and climate-related events caused as much as €520bn (US$550bn) in economic losses in Europe between 1980 and 2020. Up to 145,000 lives were lost over the same period. Most recently, floods from Storm Bernd in the summer of 2021 left more than 180 people dead in Germany and Belgium and caused billions of euros of damage, while the consequences of the record drought and fires in the summer of 2022 will be ongoing.
Phil Evans, EUMETSAT director-general, said, “The MTG system is the most complex and innovative geostationary meteorological satellite system ever built. The purpose of this multi-billion-euro investment is to provide meteorological services in our member states with a vastly increased amount of more precise information, which will help them protect lives, property and infrastructure. This system will, literally, save lives.”
The first satellite in the system, an imaging satellite that will provide higher-resolution, more precise images of Europe and Africa every 10 minutes, will be launched at the end of 2022.
According to EUMETSAT, the MTG system shows what can be achieved through international collaboration and cooperation.