EUMETSAT Information Day takes place in Nur-Sultan

The aim of the meeting is to enable the NMHS to maximise the benefits from the operational use of the data and products supplied by EUMETSAT from its own satellites and those of the EU’s Copernicus Programme. The observations made by these satellites are an important source of information for the countries in these regions to better forecast the weather, to measure the climate and to monitor the environment. Discussions will also be held during the event for the preparation of the next generation of European meteorological satellites.

During the opening ceremony, EUMETSAT’s Director of Operations and Services to Users Livio Mastroddi said “while Meteosat-8, located at 41.5 degrees east, will continue providing key meteorological and climate observations for the regions, it is also important to prepare for the use of the next generation of Meteosat satellites: the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) which will provide, as of 2022, an unprecedented amount of meteorological observations from space.

“Meteorological satellites have significant impact on weather forecasting. The cooperation between EUMETSAT and NMHS in the Eastern European, Caucasus and Central Asian regions aims at ensuring that the NMHS have continuous operational access to the satellite data and trained personnel for their exploitation.”

Mr Sabit Nurlybai, Vice Minister of Energy for the Republic of Kazakhstan added “The EUMETSAT Information Day is an important platform to enhance cooperation, ensuring that we can access and use satellite remote-sensing technologies to monitor the weather and climate, plus provide improved services in response to our national needs”.

Head of Cooperation for the European Union Delegation in Nur-Sultan, Johannes Stenbaek Madsen, also spoke at the event. He stressed the importance of EUMETSAT's work for the EU's citizens and the potential synergies between the work of the NMHS' in Central Asia, as well as a new regional EU-funded programme on disaster risk reduction to be implemented in cooperation with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR ) and the World Bank, applying the so-called Sendai Framework .

During the information day, the NMHS also reported on their current use of the satellite data. Discussion then focused on the upgrading of NMHS’ EUMETCast reception stations, installed in previous years as part of the Data Access for Western Balkan and Eastern Europe (DAWBEE) and Satellite Data for Central Asia (SADCA) projects, to ensure continuous operational access to satellite data and information.

This event, organised in cooperation with Kazhydromet (under the Kazakhstan Ministry of Energy) is part of EUMETSAT’s regular dialogue with users of its data from the regions’ NMHS. Representatives from Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine participated in the event.

The EUMETSAT Information Days for the Eastern European, Caucasian and Central Asian regions have been organised on a biennial basis since 2009. The main objectives are to inform the National Meteorological Services in these regions about the status of EUMETSAT programmes and planned activities, notably data access/training and to gather feedback from the users that results in the planning of joint actions to improve access to and use of satellite data in the countries of these regions.