Res Communis

EUMETCast expands global dissemination to include FY-3A data

by Sara M. Langston with the blog faculty

Source: EUMETSAT

As part of its growing cooperation with the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), EUMETSAT now receives and disseminates sounding data from the FY-3A polar-orbiting satellite via EUMETCast in response to growing interest from its users in Europe for these data.

The addition of FY-3A data to EUMETCast follows discussions between EUMETSAT and CMA. During a bilateral meeting between the two organisations in June in Geneva, CMA reconfirmed its intention to share FY-3 data with EUMETSAT and its Member States. At another bilateral meeting in Beijing last month, EUMETSAT and CMA agreed an FY-3 data transfer test phase starting on 10 November.

The data from the microwave humidity and temperature sounders (MWHS and MWTS) on board the FY-3A satellite is dumped on a reception station in Kiruna in northern Sweden or in China and transmitted to CMA in Beijing. After processing, the data is then transmitted to EUMETSAT in Darmstadt via the Regional Meteorological Data Communication Network (RMDCN) and then added to EUMETCast. The data from FY-3A is similar to those collected by the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) and Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) on EUMETSAT’s Metop-A polar-orbiting satellite.

In addition to being available on EUMETCast, FY-3A MWHS and MWTS data is available to Asia-Pacific users via CMA’s CMACast broadcast dissemination system.