Chaired by Declan Murphy, Director of the Irish National Meteorological Institute, Met Eireann, this Council meeting was the first ever to include Chinese and Canadian observers and it discussed important subjects like Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) and the Jason follow-on mission.
Representing the Administrator of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) was the Director-General of the Chinese National Satellite Meteorological Centre, Dr. Yang Jun, and the government of Canada was represented by the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Meteorological Service of Canada, David Grimes. Also present were Dr. Mary Kicza, Assistant Administrator, NOAA Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, and representatives of the European Space Agency (ESA) and European Commission.
During the Council meeting, EUMETSAT and NOAA amended their Joint Transition Activities Agreement to take into account the fact that the Space Environment Monitor instrument will be embarked on EUMETSAT's future Metop-C polar-orbiting satellite. They also extended their agreement on data access.
EUMETSAT also signed a cooperation agreement with the CMA focusing on data exchange and dissemination.
The Council agreed that, during the three-year period of GMES pre-operational services from 2008-2010, all EUMETSAT data and products, including real-time data, will be available free of charge to the five GMES Core Services (three fast-track and two pilot services). The Council also adopted an approach towards implementing the GMES Sentinel-4 instrument on Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) and Sentinel-5 on the next generation EUMETSAT Polar System (Post-EPS).
Council was presented with a Preliminary Programme Proposal and initiating resolution for an optional Jason follow-on mission proposing a Jason-3 satellite as the first element of a "hybrid" option, to be complemented in the 2011 timeframe by a follow-on mission based on Cryosat assets to be approved at the ESA Ministerial Conference of 2011. The implementation of this hybrid option will provide reference altimetry data continuity up until 2022.
The Jason-3 mission is based on a recurrent mission with regard to Jason-2 and is built around cooperation between CNES, EUMETSAT, NOAA and the European Commission. The total amount of the mission is estimated to be €238 million.
Representing the Administrator of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) was the Director-General of the Chinese National Satellite Meteorological Centre, Dr. Yang Jun, and the government of Canada was represented by the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Meteorological Service of Canada, David Grimes. Also present were Dr. Mary Kicza, Assistant Administrator, NOAA Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, and representatives of the European Space Agency (ESA) and European Commission.
During the Council meeting, EUMETSAT and NOAA amended their Joint Transition Activities Agreement to take into account the fact that the Space Environment Monitor instrument will be embarked on EUMETSAT's future Metop-C polar-orbiting satellite. They also extended their agreement on data access.
EUMETSAT also signed a cooperation agreement with the CMA focusing on data exchange and dissemination.
The Council agreed that, during the three-year period of GMES pre-operational services from 2008-2010, all EUMETSAT data and products, including real-time data, will be available free of charge to the five GMES Core Services (three fast-track and two pilot services). The Council also adopted an approach towards implementing the GMES Sentinel-4 instrument on Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) and Sentinel-5 on the next generation EUMETSAT Polar System (Post-EPS).
Council was presented with a Preliminary Programme Proposal and initiating resolution for an optional Jason follow-on mission proposing a Jason-3 satellite as the first element of a "hybrid" option, to be complemented in the 2011 timeframe by a follow-on mission based on Cryosat assets to be approved at the ESA Ministerial Conference of 2011. The implementation of this hybrid option will provide reference altimetry data continuity up until 2022.
The Jason-3 mission is based on a recurrent mission with regard to Jason-2 and is built around cooperation between CNES, EUMETSAT, NOAA and the European Commission. The total amount of the mission is estimated to be €238 million.
