›2016 EUMETSAT Meteorological Satellite Conference

The 2016 EUMETSAT Meteorological Satellite Conference will take place in EUMETSAT’s home town of Darmstadt in Germany from 26 to 30 September 2016. This is particularly fitting as 2016 sees the 30th anniversary of EUMETSAT’s establishment in 1986.

In Germany, Darmstadt holds the official title "City of Science" and is also known as the “City of Weather, Space and Science”, as it is a major centre of scientific institutions, universities and high technology companies and the home town of EUMETSAT and the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) of ESA.

The EUMETSAT Meteorological Satellite Conference is a forum that brings together meteorologists, scientists and researchers from around the world to share their experience and knowledge during plenary, poster and workshop sessions. In 2016, the conference will discuss advances in nowcasting and short-range numerical weather prediction (“limited area modelling”), marine meteorology and oceanography, amongst other topics and have a special session on the Arctic challenge.

The performances of short-range weather forecasting systems of the National Meteorological Services need to continue to improve to fulfil the increasing demand for accurate nowcasting services and to deliver timely warnings that help save lives and reduce losses to property and infrastructure. Indeed, these requirements are further growing due to our increasingly weather-sensitive global economy and vulnerable society. In response, new generation geostationary satellites such as Meteosat Third Generation will deliver even more diverse, accurate and timely observations from space which can be fed into short-range numerical weather prediction models and provide forecasters with critical inputs to their challenging tasks.

As the needs of the users of weather services continue to grow, they are now beginning to encompass “environmental” prediction of air quality and ocean and climate services. The role and use of satellite observations in these areas will be topics addressed at the conference.

The session on the Arctic challenge acknowledges the growing interest in the Arctic region and its critical importance for short, medium and extended range forecasting in our changing climate. It will discuss progress made in improved weather and environmental prediction services for this region.