The Socialist Federal Councilor inaugurated a new satellite reception station on Friday in Haut-Valais.
The latest generation of weather satellites, to be launched at the end of 2022, promises new possibilities for the development of data as well as innovative weather and climate products. Thanks to satellite data, it will thus be possible in the future to monitor storm activity in a few seconds, to optimize the potential use of solar energy, as well as to check the quality of numerical weather forecasting models.
But for that, you need ad hoc reception facilities on the ground. This Friday, Federal Councilor Alain Berset inaugurated a new dish that will “listen” to the satellite in Leuk (VS). The Fribourgeois underlined the importance of international technical and scientific cooperation for the exploitation of meteorological satellites. He highlighted the central role of the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and its mission to make this observation data available to Member States.
Data in spades
To be able to take advantage of all the advantages of these new satellites, the capacity for receiving and processing data must be significantly increased. With the launch of the first satellite, it is estimated that the amount of data will be more than ten times greater than today. The station, equipped with three 6.5 meter antennas in Leuk and the latest technological standards, will receive minute by minute a multitude of data in terms of meteorological information which it will transmit to Darmstadt, Germany, the headquarters of EUMETSAT. .
The exploitation of meteorological satellites is extremely cumbersome and costly. The EUMETSAT Organization, created in 1986, is an operational agency with 30 member countries which jointly use the data and bear the costs. Switzerland covers around 3.5% of EUMETSAT’s costs. The Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss represents Switzerland’s interests in this European intergovernmental organisation.
(comm/jbm)
