The delegation is meeting the senior management of EUMETSAT to discuss cooperation between the two organisations. EUMETSAT and KMA will provide an update on their respective current and future satellite programmes. The discussions will then concentrate on areas of cooperation such as data exchange, the Numerical Weather Prediction Satellite Application Facility, scientific and training activities.

The bilateral meeting takes place within the framework of the memorandum of understanding (MoU), a type of cooperation agreement, between the two organisations. The MoU covers exchange of data from the respective geostationary, polar-orbiting and ocean altimetry satellites.

One of these satellites is the South Korean COMS communications and meteorology satellite, which was successfully launched on 26 June 2010 and declared fully operational on 1 April 2011. It is the first Korean geostationary satellite with a meteorological payload and KMA now provides data to the global user community. The data is free of charge and available on the Internet. Similarly to EUMETSAT, users need to register with the South Korean National Meteorological Satellite Center to acquire a decryption unit. Under the responsibility of the Korea Ocean Satellite Center, the COMS satellite also has a Global Ocean Colour Imager (GOCI) instrument on board.

The MoU between EUMETSAT and KMA covers cooperation on information sharing/exchange; satellite data applications and data processing methodology; training; new development of satellite/product data; and data/product exchange.

KMA is preparing for a pair of COMS follow-on satellites (GEO KOMPSAT-A and -B), currently planned for launch in 2017/2018. Satellite A will have a meteorological mission only, and satellite B ocean and environmental missions.

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