MetOp Launch 17th July

[P.K.]

Just thought I'd let people know there is a new polar orbiting satellite being launched on Monday. It is EUMETSAT's first polar orbiter and should give increased coverage of the tropics.

6 July 2006

1728 BST Monday 17 July 2006 sees MetOp, the first European polar orbiter weather satellite, scheduled for launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

MetOp will carry several new instruments for monitoring the atmosphere and the ocean surface, including IASI, a sophisticated instrument to measure atmospheric temperature and humidity, with a greater accuracy than has been possible from space before.

Weather prediction and the monitoring of the Earth's climate system are being revolutionised through immense improvements in the range and quality of data from satellites, and the introduction of MetOp takes weather satellite technology into a new era.

The occasion also marks the beginning of a new chapter in the international partnership between EUMETSAT and NOAA in the United States called the Initial Joint Polar System (IJPS).

Dick Francis of the Met Office satellite team said: "this is easily the most significant satellite launch in my 25 years of working in the science. The advances that MetOp will bring to studying the weather and climate will be enormous."

The launch of the MetOp satellite will be broadcast 'live' via the EUMETSAT web site.

http://www.meto.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2006/pr20060706.html