COORDINATION GROUP FOR METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITES

CGMS origin

A global network of satellites evolved during the 1960’s and 1970’s following the successful demonstration of the large benefits for meteorological applications shown by the USA’s TIROS Operational System (TOS) and Applications Technology Satellites (ATS-1 and ATS-3).

There are two major components in the current meteorological satellite network. One element consists of the various geostationary meteorological satellites operated by Europe, China, India, Japan, the United States of America and the Russian Federation These satellites operate on the equatorial belt and provide a continuous view of the weather roughly from 70 degrees North to 70 degrees South. The launch of the first GOES satellite in 1974 by the USA was followed in 1977 with the launches of GMS by Japan and METEOSAT by the European Space Agency (responsibility for this satellite now rests with EUMETSAT, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites. The network was augmented in 1983 with the launch of the first INSAT, in 1994 with the launch of the Russian Federation’s GOMS and in 1997 with the launch of FY-2 by China.

The second major element is comprised of the polar-orbiting satellites operated by the USA, the Russian Federation and, most recently, EUMETSAT. A diagram of the two component space-based system can be seen below.

Since 1972, the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS) has provided a forum in which the satellite operators have studied jointly with the WMO technical operational aspects of the global network, so as to ensure maximum efficiency and usefulness through proper coordination in the design of the satellites and in the procedures for data acquisition and dissemination. The specific design of each of the satellites is based on national and regional requirements for data and services and therefore some differences in design and mission are inevitable. However, the regular meetings of the group have permitted a gathering and exchange of results during the course of the development of each system and a considerable measure of coordination has been achieved.

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Last updated on 19 December 2007