This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

European Space Agency

Press Release

Sunny days, blue skies for ESA and satellite meteorology

21 March 2003
 
The European Space Agency has accepted an invitation to join an
international group that coordinates the planning and data procedures
of meteorological satellites. 
 
Called the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS),
the organisation provides a forum for meteorological satellite
operators and others to come together explore ways to guarantee the
maximum efficiency and usefulness of their systems on a global scale.

In a related initiative, ESA has released an Announcement of
Opportunity (AO) to encourage proposals from members of the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) to use data from ESA's Earth
observation satellites in their various programmes. The AO will
provide WMO members with a defined approach and access to Envisat and
ERS satellite data, along with the capability to evaluate the impact
of that data in their systems for future operational use. 
 
The invitation to ESA and other R&D agencies to join CGMS recognises
the increasing interest of the meteorological community in the data
provided by space missions designed for environmental and Earth
sciences research, and to explore the applicability of innovative
sensors to meteorology, according to Prof. José Achache, ESA Director
of Earth Observation.

"I see this membership as a fruitful extension of our collaborative
efforts towards the international meteorological community," the ESA
official stated in a letter of acceptance of CGMS membership to Dr
Tillman Mohr, Director General of the European Organisation for the
Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Eumetsat), which currently
serves as the CGMS Secretariat.

Prof. Achache added that he was keenly interested in harmonizing ESA'
s membership in the group with its existing cooperation in developing
operational meteorological satellites for Eumetsat, as well as ESA's
activities in the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS)
and the Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS), two other
international efforts to coordinate activities with the larger space
and user communities. 

"ESA's acceptance of the CGMS invitation and our new Announcement of
Opportunity to invite proposals from WMO members to use Envisat and
ERS data is timely, as it almost coincides with this year's World
Meteorological Day on 23rd March, which commemorates the 53rd
anniversary of WMO," Prof Achache said. "Both WMO and ESA's Earth
observation programme share similar objectives in ensuring that the
most advanced climate data is available to assist countries around
the world in areas such as water management, agriculture and disaster
mitigation." 


ESA founding member of CGMS
 
The international meteorological group came into being in 1972 when
representatives of the European Space Research Organisation (called
the European Space Agency since 1975), Japan, and the U.S. along with
observers from international groups including WMO, met to discuss the
technical and operational compatibility among geostationary
meteorological satellites.

Since then, CGMS was joined by WMO and by Eumetsat (which inherited
the responsibility from ESA for operating European Meteosat
satellites in 1986) along with the weather satellite operators in
India, China, and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
IOC, the Inter-governmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO became
also a member about one year ago.

Today, there are two major components of the current meteorological
satellite network. The first consists of the various geostationary
meteorological satellites operated by Europe, China, India, Japan,
the U.S. and the Russian Federation. These satellites are placed
around the equatorial belt at an altitude of approximately 36 000 km
and provide a continuous and overall view of the weather systems
roughly from 70 degrees North to 70 degrees South.

The second element comprises the polar-orbiting satellites (at
approximately 800-km altitudes) operated by the Russian Federation,
the U.S. and China. It will be joined by a European system resulting
from a partnership from ESA and Eumetsat, called MetOp, in 2005.
 

Announcement of Opportunity
 
A third component will be added to the satellite network by
incorporating data from environmental, Earth science and research
satellites to assist in meteorological and atmospheric studies. As
part of this effort, the release of the AO is expected to foster the
exploitation of data from ESA's ERS and Envisat satellite missions by
WMO members. Proposals to use data from ESA's Envisat and ERS
missions also will ensure that ESA and its Members receive valuable
feedback about the uses and benefits of Earth observation data
realised by the various WMO Programmes. 

"These missions were designed for many other purposes, but the
information is of clear use to meteorological scientists and weather
services and they are very interested in obtaining it," Prof. Achache
said. "Like our entry into CGMS, the Announcement of Opportunity will
expand the number of potential users for Earth observation data in
these communities."

ESA's Earth observation missions could contribute, for instance, to
atmospheric studies by offering data from Envisat's sensors designed
to measure various chemical components in the Earth's atmosphere, for
example: 

    * Envisat's Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars
      (GOMOS) provides global ozone mapping capabilities and measures
      profiles of various gases, including NO2 and NO3, along with
      measuring temperature and water vapours; 

    * The Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric
      Chartography (SCIAMACHY) can perform global measurements of
      trace gases in the troposphere and stratosphere regions of the
      Earth's atmosphere; 

    * Another Envisat spectrometer, the Michelson Interferometer for
      Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS), detects the emissions of
      various trace gases at the outer edge of the Earth's disc. 

These and other sensors onboard Envisat and ERS spacecraft provide
new sources of data to meteorologists for a better understanding of
important atmospheric, hence climate-related, processes. In turn,
this can lead to the refinement of methodologies used for weather
forecasts, seasonal prediction and many other applications. 

The deadline for submission of proposals in response to the AO is 31
March 2003. The AO text and related material, including the joint
WMO/ESA letter of announcement, can be found at

http://projects.esa-ao.org/wmo/ .

 - END OF FILE -
==========

@Message posted automagically by IMTHINGS POST 1.30
---