NOAA Report / February 1999  

NOAA Administrator D. James Baker (left) and Tilmann Mohr, director of EUMETSAT, sign the polar satellite accord at Commerce Department headquarters in Washington.

The United States and Europe have signed an agreement that ensures the long-term continuity and improvement of polar-orbiting weather satellites.

The agreement was signed in Washington, D.C., by NOAA Administrator D. James Baker, and Tillmann Mohr, director of the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).

Under the terms of the Initial Joint Polar System agreement, NOAA and EUMETSAT will cooperate to provide a joint system of polar-orbiting weather satellites after the launch of EUMETSAT's Metop-1 satellite in 2003. Each agency will fly a common set of instruments on its satellites to ensure data continuity and compatibility for a wide range of users. This will be in addition to instruments that will be carried onn either the NOAA or EUMETSAT satellites. For the past 30 years, NOAA has operated two polar-orbiting satellites--one crossing the equator in the morning, the other crossing in the afternoon. Early in the next century, NOAA will provide coverage for the afternoon only. EUMETSAT will provide observations from the morning orbit. Coverage from both orbits is essential for use in numerical weather prediction models. The data are also used for global climate monitoring.

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