Regional Data Service/EARS

Providing high timeliness regional data from polar orbiting satellites

EARS services

EARS-ASCAT

EARS-ASCAT collects ASCAT instrument data from Metop passes, via a network of HRPT stations, and re-transmits Level 2 products via EUMETCast.

EARS-ATMS

EARS-ATMS collects data from the ATMS instrument on board the JPSS spacecrafts, operated by NASA and NOAA.

EARS-ATOVS

EARS-ATOVS provides the European meteorological community with sounder data covering data-sparse areas, within 30 minutes of the instrument observations.

EARS-AVHRR

EARS-AVHRR collects data from the primary morning and afternoon orbits of Metop and NOAA satellites via a network of AHRPT/HRPT stations. It re-transmits them via EUMETCast.

EARS-IASI

EARS-IASI collects IASI instrument data from Metop satellite-passes via a network of HRPT stations and re-transmits Level 1c and pilot Level 2 products.

EARS-CrIS

The EARS-CrIS service collects data from the CrIS instrument onboard the JPSS spacecrafts, operated by NASA and NOAA.

EARS-NWC

EARS-NWC provides near-real time availability of high resolution cloud products.

EARS-VIIRS

The EARS-VIIRS service collects data from the VIIRS instrument onboard the JPSS spacecrafts.

EARS-VASS

EARS-VASS (Vertical Atmospheric Sounding Service), complements the Metop and the US POES and SNPP/JPSS satellites currently covered by EARS.

EARS-MERSI

EARS-MERSI complements the Metop and the US POES and SNPP/JPSS satellites currently covered by EARS.

The Regional Data Services are provided by the EUMETSAT Advanced Retransmission Service (EARS), a network of Advanced High Resolution Picture Transmission (AHRPT) reception stations.

Last Updated

19 November 2020

Published on

28 April 2020

EARS comprises 10 separate data services that aim to provide users with high timeliness regional data from polar orbiting meteorological satellites, in support of Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) and Nowcasting (NWC) applications.

This is achieved through a network of Direct Broadcast stations receiving and processing data and redistribution of products to users in near-real time.

An overview of the stations and satellites supporting each Regional Service is provided in the tables below.

Five core EARS European stations


Service/ DB Station	EARS ATOVS	EARS AVHRR	EARS ASCAT	EARS IASI	EARS NWC	EARS ATMS	EARS CrIS	EARS VIIRS	EARS VASS	EARS MERSI
SVA	MetB N19 MetA N18 MetC	MetB MetA N19 MetC	MetB MetA MetC	MetB MetA MetC	MetB N19	SNPP N20	SNPP N20	SNPP N20	FY-3D	FY-3D
MAS	MetB N19 MetA N18 MetC	MetB MetA N19 MetC	MetB MetA MetC	MetB MetA MetC	MetB N19	SNPP N20	SNPP N20	SNPP N20	FY-3D	FY-3D
KAN	MetB N19 N18 MetC	MetB N19 MetC	MetB MetC	MetB MetC	MetB N19	SNPP N20	SNPP N20	SNPP N20	FY-3D	FY-3D
ATH	MetB N19 MetA N18 MetC	MetB MetA N19 MetC	MetB MetA MetC	MetB MetA MetC	MetB N19	SNPP N20	SNPP N20	SNPP N20	FY-3D	FY-3D
LAN	MetB N19 MetA N18 MetC	MetB MetA N19 MetC	MetB MetA MetC	MetB MetA MetC	MetB N19	SNPP N20	SNPP N20	SNPP N20	FY-3D	FY-3D

Contributing EARS stations


Service/ DB Station	EARS ATOVS	EARS AVHRR	EARS ASCAT	EARS IASI	EARS NWC	EARS ATMS	EARS CrIS
MOS	MetB N19 MetA N18	MetB MetA N19	MetA MetB	MetB	MetB N19	SNPP	SNPP
NOV	MetB MetC N18 N19			MetB MetC
KHA	MetB MetC N18 N19			MetB MetC
GAN	MetB N19 N18	MetB N19	MetB	MetB	MetB N19
EDM	MetB N19 N18			MetB
STD	MetB MetC MetA N19 N18		MetB MetA MetC	MetB MetA MetC		N20 SNPP	N20 SNPP
MUS	MetB N19 MetA N18		MetB MetA

Satellites and instruments supported by EARS

Each of the EARS services re-transmits observations from an instrument, or an instrument group, and aims to provide a homogeneous service across the NOAA, Metop and FY3 polar orbiting satellite platforms.

The satellites and instruments supported by EARS are as follows:


EARS Service	Satellite Series and Instruments
	NOAA NN’: NOAA18 & 19	Metop: Metop-A & B	Metop: Metop-C	NOAA JPSS: Suomi-NPP & NOAA-20	FY-3: FY-3D
EARS-ATOVS	HIRS/4 AMSU-A MHS	HIRS/4 AMSU-A MHS	AMSU-A MHS	-	-
EARS-AVHRR	AVHRR/3	AVHRR/3	AVHRR/3	-	-
EARS-ASCAT	-	ASCAT	ASCAT	-	-
EARS-IASI	-	IASI	-	-	-
EARS-NWC	AVHRR/3	AVHRR/3	AVHRR/3	-	-
EARS-ATMS	-	-	-	ATMS	-
EARS-CrIS	-	-	-	CrIS	-
EARS-VIIRS	-	-	-	VIIRS	-
EARS-VASS	-	-	-	-	MWHS-II MWTS-II
EARS-MERSI	-	-	-	-	MERSI-II