Dr. Lars Prahm On behalf of EUMETSAT, I congratulate the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on the 59th anniversary of the entry into force of the convention which created it. This year, the WMO, its 188 members and the international meteorological community celebrate World Meteorological Day on the theme of “Weather, climate and the air we breathe”.
EUMETSAT satellites contribute to the assessment of pollution on a global scale. Instruments on board our Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) geostationary satellites make measurements ranging from air quality in alpine regions to dust over the Sahara Desert. Thanks to the quality of the data it provides and the benefits experienced by users, the performance of MSG has been given by the WMO as the target for future geostationary meteorological missions for the next 20 years.
Our satellites also measure air pollution caused by man-made and natural disasters. The Metop-A polar-orbiting satellite has in the past measured the plumes of volcanic eruptions and more recently the Australian wildfires. Metop is the European contribution to the US-European Initial Joint Polar System and is an important component of the WMO’s Global Observing System.
EUMETSAT’s ability to measure air pollution improves with each generation of satellite. The Infrared Sounder on board our future Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) will support forecasting pollution and monitoring of atmospheric minor constituents through its capability to provide estimates of diurnal variations of tropospheric contributions of atmospheric trace gases like ozone and carbon monoxide.
Measuring air pollution is only one way EUMETSAT supports the WMO. The European Meteorological Satellite Organization will continue to monitor weather and increasingly climate for many World Meteorological Days to come.