Weather forecasting is entering a new era: a first third-generation weather satellite was launched into space last week. In total, six machines will be deployed by 2026. The event is considered a small revolution in the field.
It’s a revolution because weather forecasters in Europe have been using the same technology for 20 years. This new generation of satellites will be ultra-sophisticated, twice as efficient, which means that weather forecasts will be even faster, more precise and more reliable.
Technically superior
Once this first satellite launched a few days ago will be operational, around next summer, it will be able with its huge camera to provide images of the Earth and clouds with much better definition. It will also be able to send 50 times more data for the numerical forecast models.
A jewel of technology that will soon be used by Sylvain Le Moal, the head of the VDS division (valorization of satellite data) at the Space Weather Center of Météo France. He knows perfectly the instruments installed on this new satellite and on the next ones.
“We will have permanent images of Africa, Europe and the Atlantic Ocean. First of all, there will be better image quality. With MeteoSat 2nd generation, the size of the smallest pixel on the surface of the Earth, it was 3 kilometers by 3 kilometers. There, for certain channels, we will reach 1 kilometer or even 500 meters (…). We will also have images more regularly. MeteoSat 2nd generation, it was 15 minutes, and there, eventually, we will have images every 2 minutes 30. And, in addition, on MeteoSat 2nd generation, there were 12 channels, and there, we will go to 16 channels, so for us, there will be more information. So we gain both in terms of spatial, temporal and spectral resolution”, rejoices the meteorologist.
Role of Switzerland
To exploit this huge amount of data from MeteoSat 3rd generation, it is first necessary to capture the signal from these new satellites. This is where Switzerland comes into play in this European programme, as explained by Mikhaël Schwander, forecaster at Météo Suisse.
“There is an antenna which has been installed in Leuk, in Valais, to recover the data which is transmitted from the satellites. It is one of the two antennas, the other is located in Italy, towards Lake Como. weather conditions cause problems on one of the two antennas, the other antenna can take over. Since they are located on two sides of the Alps, there are often different weather conditions.”
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Once antennas like the one in Leuk, Valais, are connected to the satellites, the data is transmitted to Darmstadt, Germany, headquarters of the European intergovernmental agency Eumetsat, which provides images and data from weather satellites to its thirty Member States, including Switzerland.
Added value
In Switzerland, it is sometimes complicated to make certain weather forecasts, according to Mikhaël Schwander. “The reliefs, the Alps in particular, have a great influence on the weather in Switzerland, which complicates the forecasts, he explains.
“There are still quite a few different climates on a small spatial scale. So the new satellites will allow us to have a better view of what is happening in the Alps, also of the cloud cover and also, for example, of the stratus qu ‘we can have in Switzerland, especially on the Plateau”, concludes the specialist.
And in addition to better vision for predicting the weather, these new satellites are also a valuable asset in the fight against global warming and its consequences.
Fight against the consequences of global warming
Eumetsat expects them to “revolutionize the prediction of thunderstorms”, then causing storms, then floods. More intense and more frequent extreme phenomena with climate change, and so far very difficult to predict in advance.
This will be possible in particular thanks to a new instrument capable of detecting lightning on the ground and in clouds. Predicting these extreme weather events more quickly will allow warnings to be issued more quickly to evacuate populations and save lives.
These satellites will also allow substantial advances in the observation of forest fires and air pollution, which today is only analyzed by probes and balloons close to the ground.
Radio subject: Fouad Boukari
Adaptation web: Julien Furrer