Meteorological Satellites Make Growing Contribution to Socio-Economic Development

The Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS) is celebrating 40 years of successful operations as it prepares to meet growing demands from a world which is increasingly sensitive to the impact of weather and climate.

Created in 1972 by Europe, Japan, USA, and the World Meteorological Organization, the CGMS has constantly sought to improve the utilisation of meteorological satellites on a global basis, for operational purposes as well as for scientific research, and more recently climate studies.
 
At its 40th anniversary meeting in Lugano, Switzerland, on 5-8 November 2012, the CGMS will harness past experience and expertise to devise a five year high-level priority plan to meet future challenges.
"An increasing number of nations operate and use meteorological satellites," said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.
 
"International coordination and cooperation is therefore essential to meet the unprecedented demands by society for weather, water and climate-related information and to maximize the contribution of satellite observations to socio-economic development," he continued.
 
"More accurate weather forecasts help us to protect life, property and infrastructure, and improved data is necessary if we are to understand and predict climate variability and change."
 
The participants at the 40th CGMS meeting will discuss the operational and R&D systems of CGMS members which should make it possible to guarantee timely access to meteorological satellite data on a global scale. International coordination and cooperation is a particularly valuable asset in the current difficult economic circumstances.
 
CGMS-40 is hosted by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland and the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology, MeteoSwiss, together with WMO.
 
Input to NWP and Climate Services
 
Satellite observations are now the dominant source of observational data for Numerical Weather Prediction models, and are also essential for climate monitoring. Meteorological services have responded to this evolving demand by placing more stringent requirements on meteorological satellite systems.
 
The deployment of new generations of meteorological satellite systems, which will have a much higher impact on forecast accuracy than predecessor systems, needs to be carefully coordinated in order to reap the maximum benefit for users from their more capable instrument complements, whilst minimising the overall costs.
 
A fundamental building block for the provision of climate services will be the architecture for climate monitoring from space, and its associated repository of climate data records. CGMS members, with their long series of satellite observations (from which climate data records are derived) and their long-term programmatic perspective, are uniquely placed to make a substantial contribution to this architecture.
 
These examples underscore the need for CGMS to continue to promote international cooperation and to play a central coordination role by striking an appropriate balance between affordability, operational risks and benefits to provide optimum value from the limited resources for both Numerical Weather Prediction and Climate Services.
 
The success of CGMS stems from the fact that it offers an all-inclusive forum where long-term strategic goals can be set by senior management, while at the same time specific technical and scientific expertise is available to address more specialised, detailed subjects. The detailed expertise also means that participants have been very close to end users and can reflect their requirements through their discussions.
 
EUMETSAT, Europe’s meteorological satellite organisation, has been the Secretariat of CGMS since joining the group in 1987. The CGMS Secretariat is responsible for responding to enquiries, monitoring of actions and preparing the annual plenary meeting and inter-sessional meetings.
 
Governed by its Charter, the objectives of CGMS are:

• To coordinate long-term and sustainable satellite systems relevant to weather and climate to which both operational and R&D space agencies contribute;
• Through close interaction with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), to respond as far as possible to WMO’s requirements and related programmes (e.g. WIGOS, IOC/UNESCO, and GCOS).
• To harmonise meteorological satellite mission parameters (such as orbits, sensors, data formats and downlink frequencies) to the greatest extent possible.
• To encourage complementarity, compatibility and possible mutual back-up in the event of system failure through cooperative mission planning (the concept of “help thy neighbour”), compatible meteorological data products and services and the coordination of space and data-related activities, thus complementing the work of other international satellite coordinating mechanisms.
• To provide a forum for the exchange of technical information on meteorological satellite systems and missions, such as reporting on the meteorological satellite status and future plans, telecommunications matters, operations, intercalibration of sensors, processing algorithms, products and their validation, archiving, data transmission formats and data transmission standards.

40 years of CGMS achievements (1972-2012)
A number of concrete achievements have been made resulting from CGMS interactions over the years.

1. Establishment of a global baseline for geostationary coverage
2. Establishment of a global back-up framework/contingency planning (“help thy neighbour”)
3. Optimisation of the Global Observing System (GOS) and response to the WMO Vision for the space-based GOS in 2025
4. Standardisation of data dissemination formats and coordinated planning for the analogue to digital transition
5. Development of a common standard for the International Data Collection System (IDCS)
6. Development of an integrated strategy for data dissemination (GEONETCast)
7. Coordination of Radio Frequency Allocations and Protection of Radio Frequencies
8. Development of a coordinated approach to calibration and inter-calibration (GSICS) Insert Web-link
9. Promotion and development of a coordinated framework for generating climate data records from space observations (SCOPE-CM)
10. Development of a framework for improving the quality of sounding products and Atmospheric Motion Vectors
11. Facilitation of a common approach to archiving of data (essential for climate monitoring applications)
12. Promotion of training in the use of meteorological and other satellite data and the development of the Virtual Training Laboratory (VLab)

- Eumetsat