EUMETSAT is operating the MTG-series satellites for weather and climate monitoring

EUMETSAT is operating the MTG-series (Meteosat Third Generation) satellites for weather and climate monitoring.

The company is also operating the Copernicus Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-6 satellites and will also operate and deliver products from the Sentinel-4 and Sentinel-5 instruments onboard Meteosat Gen3 and MetOp Gen2 satellites, respectively.

EUMETSAT Meteosat weather satellites have been providing data for climate monitoring over Europe and Africa since 1978, building up in the process one of the longest time-series of climate data collected by satellites in the world.

The first Meteosat-1 satellite was launched in November 1977 on a Delta rocket operated by Boeing from the USA. In the following years ESA launched seven more Meteosat satellites that are all inactive. The company currently operates four active GEO weather satellites, Meteosat-9, -10, -11 and -12.

The Meteosat satellites are in geostationary orbit 36,000km above the Earth. They provide imagery for the early detection of fast-developing severe weather (nowcasting), weather forecasting and climate monitoring.

The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) is an inter-governmental operational organization that was formed in 1986 and created through an international convention agreed by a current total of 30 European Member States. Member countries have full access to data and services and are represented in the supreme decision-making body of the organization, the Council. The company is headquartered in Darmstadt in Germany.