Support to Nowcasting and Very Short Range Forecasting (NWC SAF)
Nowcasting is a weather forecast for the next few hours, based on current information.
Weather
EUMETSAT operates Europe's weather satellites delivering data in real time to the national weather services in our Member States.
EUMETSAT has been monitoring the weather and climate from space for more than 35 years, providing data crucial for the protection of life and property.
Last Updated
06 February 2023
Published on
26 March 2020
EUMETSAT’s Meteosat and Metop satellites provide vital observations for weather forecasting.
The Meteosat satellites are in geostationary orbit 36,000km above the Earth. They provide imagery for the early detection of fast-developing severe weather (nowcasting), weather forecasting and climate monitoring.
Meteosat's valuable contribution will continue into the 2040s with the advent of Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) from early 2020 onwards.
The Metop satellites are closer to the Earth in polar orbit (817 km above the Earth) providing detailed global observations of the atmosphere, oceans and land. These data are essential for weather forecasting up to 10 days ahead and climate monitoring.
Metop’s valuable contributions will continue into the 2040s with the advent of Metop Second Generation (Metop-SG) from the mid-2020s onwards.
EUMETSAT is also a partner in the cooperative sea level monitoring Jason-3 and Copernicus Sentinel-6 missions involving Europe and the United States. We also operate the Copernicus Sentinel-3 ocean-monitoring satellites in cooperation with the European Space Agency.
Find out more
Access weather data and training.
