Stormy weather? Check Europe’s new generation of satellites

By Martin Banks

Date: 16/12/04

EUROPE has announced plans to launch the latest in a new generation of weather satellites designed to lead to better forecasts, especially for severe weather such as storms and fog.

The MSG-2 weather satellite, which is due to take off on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guyana next June, will also help monitor climate change.

The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) is managing and funding the venture.

The new satellite is expected to provide 20 times more information than current European weather satellites.

The world's first dedicated weather satellite, Tiros 1, was launched by the United States in April 1960.

This was followed, in 1977, by Europe's first weather satellite, Meteosat 1, and later by six more Meteosat satellites.

The first of the new generation, MSG-1, was launched in August 2002 and observed the Earth from an orbit 35,780 kilometres above the equator.

Like its predecessors, the MSG-2 will circle the Earth every day, keeping pace with the planet's rotation and appearing to hover over the same point.

Scientists hope to take advantage of this vantage point to monitor climate change.

An instrument known as GERB (Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget) will measure the energy balance of the Earth as the planet absorbs energy from the Sun and radiates it out to space.

A spokesman for EUMETSAT said: "The data provided from the satellite will help weather services give more accurate predictions of extreme weather, thereby saving property and lives."

EUMETSAT is an intergovernmental organization involving 18 European countries.

EUMETSAT, an intergovernmental organisation involving 18 European countries, announced plans to launch the latest in a new generation of weather satellites designed to lead to better forecasts, especially for severe weather such as storms and fog.