The third-generation Meterosat Survey satellite (MTG-S1) is already in space after taking off on Tuesday in the Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket from Cabo Cañaveral, in Florida (USA), which is heading for geostationary orbit, 36,000 km from the Earth. This is the second of the three satellites, which make up the MTG system, which will revolutionize the weather forecast in Europe and will be expected to form the events of a large impact created by climate change, such as large storms or hurricanes of the Mediterranean (medical).
These possibilities will increase thanks to the infrared probe on board the MTG-S1, which receives data every hour to draw a four-dimensional atmosphere profile, which is an important aspect for understanding the behavior and dynamics of these extreme phenomena. This tool, which will begin to work in September, allows you to see the temperature and humidity in the vertical profile with great resolution, the parameters that serve to determine where the storms will appear and when they become intense, and for those who were almost blind to now.
The project, the result of cooperation between ESA, Eumesat and the European Commission, will receive data every hour, and also increases our ability to observe the quality of air and phenomena related to climate change due to Sentinel-4The first tool of the Copernicus system in geostationary orbit. This position regarding the Earth allows you to follow the changes in the composition of the air in real time, offering information about aerosols, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde and ozone, among other pollutants.
This mission will improve our ability to control the quality of air in Europe, compared with the current Copernicus satellite missions in polar orbit, which give daily studies of the entire planet after the Sun, but only the image of Europe on the day, for example, the satellite of the predecessor of the guard 5 (Sentinel-5P).
Instrument for saving life
“When people talk about satellites, they are very familiar with the images that they provide, but the mission of polls is doing something else,” said Phil Evans, CEO of Eumesat at a meeting with journalists before launching. “They provide a profile through the atmosphere, which means that over time they offer its four -dimensional image, which is very important for understanding what is happening.”
This system will protect the properties, save lives and help to soften the terrible events that we regularly see on television
Phil Evans
– CEO Eumesat
Evans recalls that the consequences of climate change are accelerated, Europe has lived the hottest year in its history in 2024, and its temperature increases twice as fast than on average around the world. “We have already seen the type of influence that a heavy climate can have, such as the floods of Central Europe several years ago or the flood of Valencia, in which more than 200 people died,” Evans lists. “This is the biggest risk that most countries will encounter in the next ten years.” The result of these improvements, summarizes, “protects the properties and save lives and help to soften the terrible events that we regularly see on television.”
Florence Rabier, General Director of the European Center of Meteorological Forecast in the medium term (ECMWF), believes that this satellite could not reach a better time, because now we also have a technology in the forecast of time and use of AI and automatic training. “Hyperspectral Reviewers not only give us a wide image of the atmosphere, but we can really see the subtle level of temperature and humidity in vertical,” he says. “And this allows us to see much better than what is happening, and then predict time.”
A more direct forecast
The new weather recovery will improve significantly in the direct weather forecast, known as “NowIt is expected that new opportunities will provide hours of improvement during the expectation of forecasts and warnings, which may be essential in managing extreme events. This is especially important for rapid development, such as Mediterranean cyclones, where satellite observations are often the only available.
Medicans sometimes has explosive developments, so getting data with a higher resolution every hour is very important
Florence Rabier
– General Director of the European Center for Medium -Turn Meteorological Forecast (ECMWF)
“These phenomena arise from the combination of some of these very strong storms that are formed in the Mediterranean, and sometimes they have explosive events,” Rabier explains. “We had several dramatic events several times in Italy, and also affected Corsica. Thus, obtaining data with a higher resolution every hour is very important. ”
Romualdo Romero, an expert UIB expert in Medicanes, emphasizes how useful it will be to have data from the Mediterranean Sea from space every hour, in areas where the information was very limited from vessels or islands. “These phenomena are grateful for several hours or even days and will help us make quantitative predictions of the trajectory and know if you are going to strengthen more,” he says. But this will be even more useful in faster phenomena, a very local type that develops in a few hours. “There are always smaller structures in these systems, such as rainy fronts or convective spirals,” he says. “And, even less, faster, they will be; Therefore, it will be more useful to have very good and updated information. ”
Historical day
“Today is a historical day for meteorology,” says Francisco Martin Leon, a meteorologist and coordinator RAM (a journal of a fan of meteorology), which recalls that ECMWF represents the first model that uses artificial intelligence and automatic training. In his opinion, the most relevant is the ability of a new satellite to conduct vertical atmosphere surveys. “This did not have the previous ones, and it is extremely important to nourish models of numerical forecasting,” he explains. “Because the models need the best initial conditions to make their forecasts.”
These satellites can help check this increase in moisture and reduce uncertainty, both in weather models and in climatic models
Francisco Martin Leon
– Meteorologist and coordinator RAM (Magazine of the Fan of Meteorology)
For example, in cases such as Dana de Valencia, the new system will allow us to see a vertical temperature profile loaded with humidity, very useful, given that in this area the closest view was the profile of the probe cylinders, which are discarded from Mursia and Palma, with a lower definition. “In addition, and from heating, humidity, accessible both in the atmosphere and at sea, is growing,” says Martin Leon. “These satellites will help to check this increase in moisture and reduce uncertainty, both in meteorological and in climatic models.”
Improvements in Danas
Francisco J. Tapiator, a professor of physics of the UKLM Earth and a satellite expert and precipitation, believes that this is a very valuable tool, because, being in a geostationary orbit fixed in heaven, you can constantly observe the same point on the surface of the earth. “This will help us find out whether convection occurs, and how much it will be stronger, so we can significantly improve the time forecast in the next few hours,” he says.
We can improve more, how much it will be rain, but, first of all, to be more accurate in “where”, which is a decisive problem. This is not the same as rain in the ravine, as on the side
Francisco J. Tapiator
– Physics professor UCLM Earth
In his opinion, the new Meteosat will also help us improve the longest forecasting models, since thanks to the surveyor we can now adjust the empirical values of models, which is important to be precise. “Currently, general values are used, but thanks to MTG-S we can be more improved in how much it will rain, but, above all, in WhereWhat is an important problem. This is not the same as the rain in the ravine than on the next door. ”
As for situations such as Dana, which cost more than 200 people in October 2024, he believes that although the models predicted it correctly if this satellite was already in orbit, the short -term forecast would probably be more accurate. “We would know a little better how much I am going to fall, and the uncertainty in the space place would be lower,” he says. “In any case, that which failed, there was no prediction, which was good enough three days ago, and communication of warning,” he concludes.
