WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
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RA I/TCC-XIX/Doc. 6.1(2)
(16.VIII.2010)
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RA I TROPICAL CYCLONE COMMITTEE
FOR THE SOUTH-WEST INDIAN OCEAN
NINETEENTH SESSION
ITEM 6.1
NAIROBI, KENYA
20 TO 24 SEPTEMBER 2010
Original: ENGLISH
REVIEW OF THE TECHNICAL PLAN AND ITS
IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAMME
Meteorological component
Space-based observing systems
(Submitted by the Secretariat)
Summary and purpose of document
This document presents summarized information on space-based observing
systems of relevance to Tropical Cyclones in RA I in order to assist the
Committee in reviewing the meteorological component of the Technical Plan to
strengthen the meteorological facilities and services in the South-West Indian
Ocean region.
ACTION PROPOSED
The Committee is invited to:
(a)
Note the information in this document and consider ways that may lead to
strengthening the tropical cyclone forecasting and warning services in the region;
(b)
Take into account the information and suggestions given in this document and by
participants at the session, to review, update and, where appropriate, revise the
meteorological component of the Technical Plan.
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RA I/TCC-XIX/Doc. 6.1(2), p. 2
INTRODUCTION
1.
The space-based observing system comprises:
-
Operational meteorological satellites in geostationary orbit
Operational meteorological satellites in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO)
Satellites missions for Research, Demonstration, or in a transition from
demonstration to operational status.
2.
Regularly updated information on the overall status of satellite missions and plans is
available via the WMO Space Programme home page: http://www.wmo.int/sat in selecting
“Status of Geo, LEO and R&D satellites”. Comprehensive technical information including
detailed characteristics of the satellites, instruments, and derived products, is available in the
“Dossier on the Space-based GOS” which can be downloaded from the following page:
http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/sat/Refdocuments.html#spacebasedgos .
OPERATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITES IN GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT
3.
The Meteosat system of EUMETSAT currently comprises the second generation
spacecraft Meteosat-9 and -8, and the first generation Meteosat-7 and -6. Meteosat-9
provides nominal geostationary service at 0°; Meteosat-8 is operated at 9.5° East for rapidscanning over Europe and is the primary back-up satellite for Meteosat-9; the first generation
Meteosat-7 is providing Indian Ocean coverage at 57.5 ° East and is planned to be operated
there until the end of 2013; the older Meteosat-6 spacecraft has been supporting Meteosat-7
for DCP operations during eclipse seasons, and will be deorbited by the end of 2010.
EUMETSAT plans to launch Meteosat-10 and Meteosat-11 in 2012 and 2014 respectively.
GEOSTATIONARY COVERAGE OF THE INDIAN OCEAN (Aug 2010)
40
10
Longitude
Latitude
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
-20
-50
-80
Meteosat-9
Meteosat-7
Kalpana
FY-2 D
FY-2 E
MTSAT
INSAT-3A
Figure 1: Geostationary coverage of the Indian Ocean
RA I/TCC-XIX/Doc. 6.1(2), p. 3
4.
Meteosat-9 provides full-disk imagery every fifteen minutes in 12 channels, with a
resolution of the order of 3km in the infrared and 1 km in one visible channel, at the subsatellite point. Meteosat-7 provides full-disc imagery every 30 minutes in 3 channels, with a
resolution of 5 km in the infrared and 2.5 km in the visible, at sub-satellite point. All Meteosat
data and products are accessible throughout RA I through the EUMETCAST-Africa DVB-S
broadcast service, which can be received in C-band in the Western part of the Indian Ocean.
In addition, Low-Resolution imagery from Meteosat-9 in LRIT standard and High-Resolution
imagery from Meteosat-7 are available through direct dissemination from these satellites.
5.
Kalpana and INSAT-3A are operated by India at 74 ° East and 93.5 ° East
respectively. They include a 3-channel imager with 2km resolution in the visible and 8 km in
the infrared and water vapour channels, with an imaging cycle of 3 hours for INSAT-3A and
1 hour for Kalpana. Insat and Kalpana imagery is available over the Internet:
http://www.imd.gov.in/section/satmet/dynamic/insat.htm. A new generation satellite INSAT3D is planned to be launched towards the end of 2010, it will include a 6-channel imaging
radiometer with 1 km resolution in the visible, 4km in the infrared and 8 km in the water
vapour channels, as well as a visible and infrared sounding instrument.
6.
China is operating two geostationary satellites of the FY-2 series: FY-2 D and FY-2
E at 86.5 °East and 105° East respectively. The FY-2 D and FY-2E satellites are providing
full-disc imagery in 5 visible and infrared channels every 30 minutes, with a resolution of 1.25
km in the visible to 5 km in the infrared. Data are accessible through direct dissemination in
LRIT standard as well as through the FengYunCast DVB-S broadcast service which can be
received in the Northern half of the Indian Ocean.
7.
The Russian Federation plans to launch Electro-L1 towards the end of 2010. This
new spacecraft would carry a 10-channel imaging radiometer with 1 km resolution in the
visible and 4km resolution in the infrared, with an image cycle of 15 to 30 minutes.
OPERATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITES IN LOW-EARTH ORBIT
8.
The primary operational meteorological spacecraft in Low-Earth Orbit are currently:
NOAA-19 (pm) from the USA, Metop-A (am) from EUMETSAT, and FY-3A (am) from China,
where “pm” and “am” indicate that they are sun-synchronous satellites on an afternoon or a
morning orbit respectively. They are complemented by secondary satellites including NOAA18, NOAA-17, NOAA-16, FY-1D, which are not all fully functional but provide complementary
data and serve as back-up. Meteor-M1 was launched by the Russian Federation in
September 2009 and is in its final in-orbit commissioning phase. All these satellites have a
direct readout capability. Due to an outage occurred aboard the spacecraft, the direct
readout capability AHRPT of Metop-A can be activated for Southbound orbits only (i.e. the
daytime overpass, crossing the equator at 09:30 am Local Solar Time) over the Western
Indian Ocean.
9.
The NOAA, Metop, FY-3, and Meteor-M series of spacecraft all include imagery and
sounding capability. The payload of Metop-A includes a scatterometer (ASCAT). The
EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility on Ocean and Sea Ice (SAF OSI) produces Ocean
Wind Surface products derived from ASCAT data, as well as other oceanic surface products
such as Sea Surface Temperature, which are accessible through EUMETCAST-Africa
broadcast service.
RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATION, AND TRANSITION MISSIONS
10.
A
missions
particular
measure
number of Research and Development missions, demonstration, or transition
are providing data of great value in support of tropical cyclone monitoring, in
as concerns scatterometers to measure ocean surface winds, altimeters to
significant wave heights, and precipitation radars and microwave imagers to
RA I/TCC-XIX/Doc. 6.1(2), p. 4
observe precipitation. Some of these missions are listed below, without pretending to be
exhaustive.
11.
The Quikscat satellite of NASA (USA) stopped operating in November 2009, after
having provided valuable scatterometer data for 10 years. In the near future, in addition to
the ASCAT instruments of the Metop series mentioned above, other scatterometer data
should be available from the Oceansat-2 satellite of India, which was launched in September
2009 and is currently in commissioning, provided that real-time data distribution can be
organized.
12.
The Jason-2 altimetry mission, cooperation among Europe, France and the USA,
represents a transition from research to operations for the ocean surface topography
mission. Jason-2 wind and wave products are distributed through the EUMETCAST-Africa
service. Other altimetry data are provided by ENVISAT of ESA. The SARAL mission of India
and France is planned to fly the Altika altimeter as of 2011. As of 2013, the Sentinel-3
mission of the European Union, ESA and EUMETSAT will provide new altimetry data.
13.
The operation of the TRMM satellite of the USA, launched in 1997, has been
extended to continue to provide precipitation observations by radar in the inter-tropical area
from a 35° inclination orbit. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite,
which will include an advanced precipitation radar, is scheduled for 2013. This mission
should be supported by a constellation of satellites with passive microwave sensors. Among
them, the Meghatropiques mission from India and France and the GCOM-W mission from
Japan are scheduled for launch in 2011.
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