Space Data Products and Systems

Situational awareness is vital to the Met Office Operations Centre so that Operational Meteorologists know exactly what is going on in the world based on observations from the recent past. The team manage and evolve our satellite processing systems to produce state-of-the-art satellite products for this purpose from a range of geostationary earth orbit (GEO) and low earth orbit (LEO) satellites.

Our Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) capability relies on the production of accurate analyses. These analyses are driven by observations from the global observing system. The Space Data Systems and Products team support NWP through the pre-processing of satellite data to generate satellite products that are ready for assimilation into NWP models. 

We ensure the quality and quantity of data available for NWP and Operational Meteorology by liaising with satellite data providers all over the world from Europe to the USA, China, Japan and beyond! We deliver high quality software and support as part of the EUMETSAT NWP SAF (Satellite Application Facility).

Additionally we produce simulated satellite imagery from our NWP model output which is used for verification of our models against the observed imagery.

Current projects

• Preparation for imagery production from next-generation EUMETSAT satellite programs: Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) and EUMETSAT Polar System Second Generation (EPS-SG).
• Developing pre-processing software to allow assimilation of next-generation satellite data into NWP models.
• Ensuring the resilience of our satellite data reception and processing systems.
• Improving our simulated satellite imagery processing capability.