The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) has installed the first of a series of PUMA-2025 receiving stations to capture data provided by Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) geostationary satellites in Nairobi, Kenya.
Next-generation weather satellites
These stations are to ensure that Kenyan meteorologists can use the most accurate and frequent data from the MTG satellites to support the sustainable development of local communities and protect lives and livelihoods.
EUMETSAT supports the African Union Commission’s effort to set up a network of similar stations in several national weather and climate services across the entire continent in the following months. This is to empower African meteorologists and scientists with the most recent technology to receive and use MTG data.
According to the organization, EUMETSAT’s Meteosat satellites are the only Earth observation satellites that have a constant view of Africa. MTG will provide higher-resolution images of Africa than is possible now, and will do so more frequently, that is, every 10 minutes.
“The African Union and EUMETSAT signed an agreement in 2022 to ensure that the right infrastructure would be implemented to empower African users with data from MTG,” explained Phil Evans, EUMETSAT director-general. “The milestone we just passed ensures continuity of satellite data reception across the continent, enabling more efficient early warnings for all, more accurate forecasting of extreme weather events and better protection for all.”
Upgrading early warning infrastructure
The first PUMA station was installed almost 20 years ago, in February 2004, to receive Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) data within the framework of the Preparation for Use of Meteosat in Africa (PUMA) project. Until now, thanks to the support of various EU-funded programs in Africa (such as PUMA, African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development and the Monitoring of Environment and Security in Africa program) this infrastructure enabled African weather and climate services across the entire continent to receive data from the Meteosat geostationary satellites in a timely and efficient way, to forecast and monitor extreme weather events. The current installations will upgrade the infrastructure for MTG, and will provide relevant training to maximize benefits for meteorologists and enable local maintenance.
Upcoming installations include a station in Cotonou, Benin, where the 16th EUMETSAT User Forum in Africa will take place this September. The event will provide a platform for African meteorologists to share knowledge and best practices on the use of Meteosat data and discuss perspectives to improve early warning systems.
In related news, EUMETSAT recently awarded a launch service contract to SpaceX for the launch of the Meteosat Third Generation-Sounder 1 (MTG-S1) satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket in 2025. Click here to read the full story.