Iceland has joined EUMETSAT as its latest Member State, following the signature of the accession agreement on 30 August 2013.

On 1 January, Lithuania became EUMETSAT’s latest Member State, following the ratification of the accession agreement by its parliament

EUMETSAT has been designated by the European Commission as the provider of data from the Suomi-NPP polar-orbiting satellite of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to the Copernicus marine and atmosphere services, for a period of 17 months. Copernicus is an EU programme for monitoring the Earth environment and security.

The 79th meeting of the EUMETSAT Council took place in Darmstadt, Germany, on 26 November.

Bulgaria is on its way to becoming a EUMETSAT Member State in 2014 following the signature of the accession agreement by EUMETSAT Director-General Alain Ratier and Prof Dr Aneliya Klisarova, Minister of Education and Science of Bulgaria, during the session of the 79th Council meeting.

Following the 27th Plenary of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) in Montreal, Canada, on 5-6 November 2013, EUMETSAT has taken over the CEOS chairmanship for the coming year.

The European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) has released a study demonstrating clear and measurable benefits resulting from the long-standing partnership between EUMETSAT and the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - for both organisations, their user communities and the stakeholders that provide the funding.