EUMETSAT, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, held its 77th Council meeting in Darmstadt, Germany, on 15 November.

The Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) instrument on EUMETSAT’s Metop-B has produced its first calibrated infrared spectrum on 24 October at 14:58 UTC

EUMETSAT has begun trial dissemination of data from instruments on board the Metop-B polar-orbiting satellite to partners, including the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), Met Office (UK), Deutscher Wetterdienst and Météo-France

EUMETSAT has started trial dissemination of MSG-3 image data and meteorological products to national meteorological services in the organisation’s Member and Cooperating States and to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

The 10th EUMETSAT User Forum in Africa takes place at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) conference centre in Addis Ababa on 1-5 October 2012.

Four of the instruments on the Metop-B weather satellite (AMSU-A, ASCAT, MHS, GRAS) have been activated this week and are delivering data.

Yesterday, at 18:30 local time EUMETSAT took control of Metop-B operations

At 18:28 CEST (22:28 Baikonur time), Metop-B was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz 2.1a rocket.