[SatNews]  The 82nd meeting of the EUMETSAT Council took place in Darmstadt, Germany, on November 26th.

As part of the EUMETSAT Polar System, Metop delivers information on key climate variables.

Image courtesy of EUMETSAT.

The meeting achieved progress in the approval process for the EUMETSAT Polar System Second Generation (EPS-SG) program: 86.86 percent of the financial envelope of the program is now covered by committed contributions from Member States. Expecting that all Member States will have completed their national approval process by June 2015 at the latest, the Council authorized the Director-General, Alain Ratier, to start the program activities when 95 percent of the financial envelope is secured. EPS-SG is the mandatory program required to deliver observations from polar orbit in the 2021-2042 timeframe. The EPS-SG system will improve and expand the observation capabilities of the first generation EPS, as necessary to further improve operational weather forecasting up to 10 days ahead.

The Council also opened the Jason Continuity of Service (Jason-CS) Optional Program for subscription after agreeing the Program Proposal and other documents establishing the legal framework for that programme. The Jason-CS program constitutes EUMETSAT’s contribution to the Copernicus Sentinel-6 mission to be developed and implemented through a partnership between the EU, ESA, EUMETSAT and the United States (NOAA). The mission will extend until 2030 the climate record of sea level measurements accumulated since 1992 by the Topex-Poseidon, Jason, Jason-2 and Jason-3 missions. It will also support the development of operational oceanography and seasonal forecasts in Europe.

The EUMETSAT infosite may be accessed at http://www.eumetsat.int/website/home/index.html