The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed a contract worth €32 million with OHB Sweden to build a prototype satellite for the Arctic Weather Satellite mission. The development comes in the wake of the heightened need for frequent satellite data for faster weather forecasting updates in the Arctic. This prototype is an indication to a potential constellation of satellites that would supply an almost constant stream of temperature and humidity data from every location on Earth. This would, for the first time, allow very short-range weather forecasting, also termed “nowcasting”, in the Arctic. Meteorologists will also use the mission to improve weather forecasts around the world.
Currently, Europe’s Meteosat geostationary satellites, positioned 36 000 km above the equator, return images every 15 minutes over the full Earth and every five minutes over Europe. Since they have no visibility of higher latitudes, they cannot be used for Arctic weather forecasting. While the MetOp satellites do return data over the poles as they a circle Earth from pole to pole in a lower orbit, they need up to 24 hours to achieve global coverage. By providing global measurements of atmospheric temperature and humidity with frequent revisit times, the polar-orbiting Arctic Weather Satellite mission will complement MetOp and its counterpart US NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System. This will improve weather forecasts specifically in the Arctic.
“The Arctic Weather Satellite development contract demonstrates ESA’s continued commitment to the establishment of novel, state-of-the-art meteorological satellite systems, while also showcasing what can be achieved with a cost-effective, New Space approach,” Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA’s Acting Director of Earth Observation Programmes, was quoted as saying.
