The African Union Commission (AUC) and Europe’s meteorological satellite agency, EUMETSAT, have signed an agreement to further strengthen cooperation on Earth observation.
The memorandum of understanding opens the way for access by African environmental and meteorological services to EUMETSAT’s data from its next-generation satellite systems. It provides the framework for EUMETSAT and AUC to cooperate on deploying new infrastructure to receive data and build educational materials to ensure the biggest possible impact from the satellite data.
EUMETSAT has begun to deploy its Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellite system, with the launch of MTG-Imager 1 in December 2022. The satellite’s imagers have a constant view of Africa, as well as Europe, and its data will be released for operational use soon. The organisation’s next-generation of polar-orbiting satellites, EUMESAT Polar System – Second Generation, will begin to be launched in 2025-26.
“EUMETSAT is a key partner of the African Union in projects aiming to strengthen Africa’s meteorological, environmental and climate services,” EUMETSAT Director-General Phil Evans said. “We have provided African nations with data and capacity building support for more than two decades, within the framework of the European Union-Africa Partnership.
