Satellite Application Facilities (SAFs)

Dedicated centres of excellence for processing satellite data

Utilising specialist expertise from the Member States, Satellite Application Facilities (SAFs) are dedicated centres of excellence for processing satellite data. They form an integral part of the distributed EUMETSAT Application Ground Segment.

Last Updated

23 January 2024

Published on

15 May 2020

The eight EUMETSAT SAFs provide users with operational data and software products, each one for a dedicated user community and application area.

EUMETSAT Secretariat supervises and coordinates the overall activities of the SAF network, ensuring that the SAFs in operations are providing reliable and timely operational services related to the meteorological and environmental issues.

The SAF Network manages and coordinates interfaces between the SAFs themselves and between SAFs and other EUMETSAT systems, overseeing the integration and operations of SAFs into the overall ground segment infrastructure. During this process EUMETSAT ensures that services are delivered in the most reliable and cost-effective way.

Meet the SAFs

AC SAF

Atmospheric Composition Monitoring

The AC SAF processes satellite data on ozone, other trace gases, aerosols and ultraviolet data.

Learn more about AC SAF

CM SAF

Climate Monitoring

The CM SAF generates and archives high-quality climate datasets.

Learn more about CM SAF

LSA SAF

Land Surface Analysis

The LSA SAF exploits remotely-sensed data on land, land-atmosphere interactions and biosphere applications.

Learn more about LSA SAF

OSI SAF

Ocean and Sea Ice

The OSI SAF provides comprehensive information on the ocean-atmosphere interface.

Learn more about OSI SAF

NWP SAF

Numerical Weather Prediction

The NWP SAF supports the interface between satellite data and European activities in NWP.

Learn more about NWP SAF

ROM SAF

Radio Occultation Meteorology

The ROM SAF generates and archives high-quality GNSS Radio Occultation (RO) data for NWP and specific climate application areas.

Learn more about ROM SAF

NWC SAF

Nowcasting and Very Short Range Forecasting

Nowcasting is a weather forecast for the next few hours, based on current information.

Learn more about NWC SAF

H SAF

Operational Hydrology and Water Management

The H SAF generates and archives datasets and products for operational hydrological applications.

Learn more about H SAF

The Satellite Application Facilities (SAFs) are a distributed network of thematic application facilities responsible for necessary research, development, and operational activities not carried out by the central facility. The SAFs are located within the National Meteorological Services (NMS) of EUMETSAT Member States, or other agreed entities linked to a user community.

SAFs deliverables can be a specific piece of software to be made available to users for use in their own environment, or data and products made available in near real-time or offline.

Product validation

Products generated within the Application Ground Segment are subject to a validation process to ensure the correct quality of product has been reached. All products need to meet validation criteria before an 'operational' product status can be applied. Corresponding validation reports are made available at the time of the product release.

Archiving data and products

All data and products generated within the Application Ground Segment are archived and can be retrieved, on demand, by users. The EUMETSAT Data Centre provides the central archive facility and retrieval service. The network of SAF archives provides thematic archive and retrieval services for their products.

SAFs are dedicated centres of excellence for processing satellite data, achieved by utilising specialist expertise from the Member States. SAFs generate and disseminate operational EUMETSAT products and services and are an integral part of the distributed EUMETSAT Application Ground Segment.

Each SAF is led by the National Meteorological Service (NMS) of a EUMETSAT Member State, in association with a consortium of EUMETSAT Member States and Cooperating States, government bodies and research institutes. The lead NMS is responsible for the management of each complete SAF project. The research, data and services provided by the SAFs complement the standard meteorological products delivered by EUMETSAT’s central facilities in Darmstadt, Germany.

EUMETSAT supervises and coordinates the overall activities of the SAF network and the integration of the SAFs into the various operations within the EUMETSAT Application Ground Segment. It manages and coordinates interfaces — between the SAFs themselves and between SAFs and other EUMETSAT systems — overseeing the integration of SAFs into the overall ground segment infrastructure. By overseeing the entire network of SAFs, EUMETSAT ensures that services are delivered in the most reliable and cost-effective way.

SAFs currently use data from meteorological satellites both in geostationary and polar orbit.

The SAFs help deliver a variety of benefits, including:

Improvements to short-range forecasting of severe weather hazards.
Support to the aviation, agriculture, construction, gas, water and electricity industries.
Better understanding of the causes and effects of pollution of the upper atmosphere and the depletion of ozone.
Early warning of hazards.
Better data for climate monitoring.
Improved information for land use, ecology, disaster monitoring and agricultural forecasting.
Benefits for sea transport, fishing and offshore industries.
Improved data for input to Numerical Weather Prediction and the availability of user software packages for operational applications.
Improved software packages and near-real time and offline products.

For requesting any additional information on the SAF Network go to Contact Us.

To directly contact the SAF Projects see the details below.