NOAA, EUMETSAT sign long-term arrangement for weather, climate monitoring
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Category: ClimateType: News
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Date: Wednesday, August 28th, 2013
Building on a 30-year relationship, top officials from N.O.A.A. and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) signed a long-term cooperative agreement, ensuring continued space-based weather, water and climate monitoring.
At a ceremony at the European Union (EU) Delegation in Washington, D.C. yesterday, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Ph.D., N.O.A.A. acting administrator and Alain Ratier, EUMETSAT's director general, signed the agreement. They were joined by Dr. Francois Rivasseau, deputy chief of mission, EU Delegation to the United States.
"The need for environmental intelligence has never been stronger. This partnership with our EUMETSAT colleagues allows us to continue collecting and sharing vital space-based observations, resulting in a better understanding of our global environment," Sullivan said.
Ratier added, "The partnership between EUMETSAT and N.O.A.A. has continuously developed over the last 30 years and taken a strategic dimension, bringing substantial benefits to Europe, the U.S.A. and the worldwide user communities. Today the partnership covers back-up arrangements and data exchange for geostationary satellites and full sharing of low Earth orbit satellite systems, with the Initial Joint Polar System and the Jason series. With this agreement, we have established a policy framework to further develop our cooperation into the next decades."
Key successes of the NOAA-EUMETSAT partnership include:
NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. For more information about N.O.A.A. satellites, please visit: www.nesdis.noa.gov and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.
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