A groundbreaking moment in European weather surveillance has arrived as the Meteosat-12, the first imaging satellite of the Meteosat Third (MTG) program.
Currently located above the 0° longitude equator on the Gulf of Guinea, this advanced satellite is poised to change the way meteorologists observe and predict in Europe, Africa and surrounding oceans.
Replacing the Meteosat-10 with its primary operational role, Meteosat-12 marks the beginning of a new chapter in EumetSat’s mission to enhance global weather monitoring, forecast accuracy and climate analytical capabilities.
It will leap forward to Earth observation technology
The Meteosat-12 Orbit Earth, released on December 13th, 2022, is at an altitude of approximately 36,000 km.
Scans the entire Earth disk every 10 minutes, and meteorologists provide more frequent and sharp images than ever before.
At the heart of that innovation are two sophisticated instruments: the flexible coupled imager (FCI) and the first space-based lightning imager (LI) in Europe.
FCI delivers data twice the spectral channel compared to its predecessor, capturing the weather system with more detail and higher resolution.
This feature is important for detecting the rapid formation of weather phenomena such as storms, fog, and convective cloud development.
Meanwhile, Li provides important new tools for tracking lightning activity in Europe and Africa in both daytime and darkness, and assessing the strength and risk of storms.
Strengthen forecasts for extreme weather times
As the effects of climate change intensify, harsh weather events are becoming more frequent and more destructive.
The Meteosat-12 arrives at a critical time. With advanced equipment and speed of data delivery, satellites will issue early warnings in Europe, significantly improving their ability to respond to weather-related emergencies.
The MTG system represents a generational leap in satellite weather monitoring. We support a wide range of important services, from storm warnings and improving air traffic safety to supporting wildfire responses and tracking air quality hazards.
With the addition of Sounder satellites like the MTG-S1, scheduled to be released in 2025, predictors can access vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature and humidity from Europe’s first Earth orbit.
This comprehensive approach allows meteorologists to observe the complete life cycle of storms, from the earliest atmospheric signals to lightning strikes, enhancing both short-term forecasts and long-term climate modeling.
MTG Constellations: Aggregation Network for Climate Resilience
The Meteosat-12 is the first of six satellites planned for MTG Constellation, and includes four imagers and two sounders.
Together they form a resilient, interconnected system that supports ongoing weather and climate monitoring until the 2040s.
The Meteosat-12 currently offers core Earth Measuring Services, but it is part of a larger, tuned constellations. The Meteosat-10 has moved to the backup role and is ready to support or resume operations as needed.
While Meteosat-11 continues to provide rapid scans every five minutes in Europe and North Africa, Meteosat-9 remains stationed in the Indian Ocean, providing essential data for areas vulnerable to cyclones and monsoons.
This multi-satellite strategy ensures redundancy, stability and uninterrupted services, protecting Europe’s weather infrastructure in the face of growing global climate change.
Why is climate surveillance in Europe important?
Beyond immediate predictive benefits, the MTG programme plays a key role in promoting climate surveillance in Europe.
Long-term satellite data is essential to understand climate trends, assessing the frequency and intensity of extreme events, and informing national and international policy responses.
By capturing a wider range of environmental data more accurately and ongoing, MeteoSat-12 strengthens Europe’s ability to track atmospheric changes, monitor ecosystem health, and measure the impact of climate initiatives.
With growing demand for climate information in sectors such as agriculture, energy and urban planning, improving weather monitoring will not only contribute to public safety, but economic resilience and sustainable development.
Looking ahead
The successful operator approach from the Meteosat-10 to the Meteosat-12 is a milestone achieved through years of collaboration across EumetSat, its member states and industry partners.
As more satellites in the MTG series are launched in the coming years, the complete constellations will provide an unprecedented window into our atmospheric dynamics.
Weather monitoring has entered a new bold era. Science, technology and international cooperation unite to meet changing global challenges.
Source link
