Europe's Weather Satellite Delivers Stunning Earth Views

The Meteosat third generation imager has delivered its first imagery of Europe and Africa from 36,000 kilometers away (22,369 mi.).  Credit: ESA

Transcript

00:00We have now entered a new era of satellite meteorology.

00:13Europe's latest weather satellite, the Medeosat 3rd generation imager, has just delivered

00:18its first image.

00:20But before we reveal it, what does this satellite do exactly?

00:24And what does this mean for weather forecasting?

00:28Weather, especially extreme weather, affects everything we do.

00:35Over the past 40 years, events like floods, heatwaves and storms have caused close to

00:41145,000 fatalities across Europe and economic losses of around 500 million euros.

00:51Monitoring weather is crucial, not only in our day-to-day lives, but also to determine

00:55future climate changes.

00:58In 1977, the first European weather satellite, Medeosat, took its place in orbit.

01:05Eleven satellites have since followed.

01:10From their vantage point 36,000 kilometres above the equator, they've been watching

01:15Earth non-stop for over four decades.

01:19These missions result from the long-standing cooperation between ESA and EUMETSAT.

01:25In December 2022, the latest Medeosat satellite lifted off, marking the next generation of

01:31weather forecasting.

01:36The Medeosat 3rd generation imager, the first of six satellites, will monitor the weather

01:41from space like never before.

01:46With its groundbreaking instruments, the satellite will deliver Earth observations

01:50of unprecedented range, resolution and frequency.

01:56This will enable weather forecasts to monitor the evolution of rapidly developing severe

02:01weather more accurately.

02:05The satellite's flexible combined imager can scan the entire Earth disk in 10 minutes

02:11and deliver images over Europe in just 2.5 minutes.

02:17So are you ready for the big reveal?

02:21This is the first image from the Medeosat 3rd generation imager, showing Europe, Africa

02:28and the Atlantic in remarkable detail.

02:33Much of northern and western Europe, as well as Scandinavia, can be seen blanketed in clouds,

02:39with relatively clear skies over Italy and the western Balkans.

02:45Details such as snow cover on the Alps, sediment in the water along the coast of Italy and

02:51cloud vortices over the Canary Islands are visible.

02:57Crucially for Nordic countries, the image also shows a greater level of detail of cloud

03:02structures at high latitudes.

03:08The Medeosat 3rd generation imager is currently undergoing a commissioning phase, where its

03:12instruments are switched on and the data they collect are calibrated.

03:19By the end of the year, the data will be distributed to meteorological services in Europe and beyond,

03:25and will soon be available on a screen, TV or weather app near you.