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NOAA, European agency sign long-term agreement for space-based weather, climate monitoring


August 30, 2013   by Canadian Underwriter


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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States has signed a long-term agreement with a European meteorological organization to continue space-based weather, water and climate monitoring.

Rendering of the Suomi NPP satellite

The NOAA and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites have an established 30-year relationship.

“The partnership between EUMETSAT and NOAA has continuously developed over the last 30 years and taken a strategic dimension, bringing substantial benefits to Europe, the USA and the worldwide user communities,” Alain Ratier, EUMETSAT’s director general, noted at the agreement’s signing Aug,. 28.

“Today the partnership covers back-up arrangements and data exchange for geostationary satellites and full sharing of low Earth orbit satellite systems, with the Initial Joint Polar System and the Jason series,” Ratier said. “With this agreement, we have established a policy framework to further develop our cooperation into the next decades.”

The two organizations operate a joint polar satellite system, where EUMETSAT’s Metop satellites sly in the mid-morning orbit, while NOAA’s polar satellites and the Suomi NPP spacecraft fly in the afternoon orbit.

Both agencies share the data, which helps establish all medium-range weather forecasts in the U.S. and Europe and also make up most of the data used by the U.S. weather model (GFS) and the major European weather model (ECMWF).

The agencies also exchange data from geostationary satellites and have a back-up agreement in place for data sharing if either organization’s spacecraft have trouble.

“The need for environmental intelligence has never been stronger,” noted Kathryn D. Sullivan, NOAA’s acting administrator. “This partnership with our EUMETSAT colleagues allows us to continue collecting and sharing vital space-based observations, resulting in a better understanding of our global environment.”

Image: Rendering of the Suomi NPP satellite. (Credit: NOAA)


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