EUMETSAT Annual Report 2022

EUMETSAT ANNUAL REPORT 2022
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Geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites provide
essential data on aspects such as aerosols,
cloudiness, precipitation, water vapour, and longterm
changes in average radiation on the Earth’s
surface and at the top of the atmosphere. Meteosat
measurements are used by EUMETSAT’s Satellite
Application Facility on Climate Monitoring to create
products and maps that can be used to characterise
cloud cover and estimate surface solar radiation
and sunshine duration at specific locations in
Europe and beyond.
“Climate services use these products to help to build
up our understanding of climate change,” Schulz said.
Climate data reanalysis
EUMETSAT’s Meteosat geostationary satellites and
Metop polar-orbiting satellites provide continuous,
decades-long archives of space-based observations
of the Earth’s atmosphere, ocean, land, and
cryosphere. Researchers can also make substantial
enhancements to the global climate record by
turning to past satellite observations.
“More than six decades after the launch of the first
weather satellites, the datasets collected by past
missions are again proving crucial,” Schulz said.
“Satellite observations are
the foundation for most of
our knowledge about the
evolution of the global sea
ice cover.”
Dr Jörg Schulz
Climate Service and Product Manager
EUMETSAT
“Historical satellite data can help us to fill in the
details of the past, with comprehensive records of
surface temperatures, to polar ice, to essential trace
gases in the atmosphere.”
The outputs from climate data reanalyses contribute
to almost all high-level climate documents,
including the Copernicus and World Meteorological
Organisation state of the climate reports.
For more information,
read the case study on the
EUMETSAT website
www.eumetsat.int/features/climate-changeeuropean-context
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