An IGO
monit-
oring
weather and
climate
change
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structures and programmatic aims in order to justify doing things its own way rather than ESA's. The conflict imposed discipline and focus.
While all these events were happening, EUMETSAT was dealing with a number of other matters. They are not explored because they are not central to the two relationships most significant - with ESA and among the Member States - to EUMETSAT's evolution in its early years. Yet they are important to the Organisation's stature in the world today. Among these were: data policy, an issue relevant to the scientific community and global meteorological practice; relationships with developing countries; relationships with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the USA and EUMETSAT's role on the global stage.
Others include:
EUMETSAT established a Meteorological Data Distribution (MOD) service. MOD became operational in January 1992, transmitting basic meteorological data to African users from sites in Bracknell, UK, and Rome, Italy (and later Toulouse, France). The data proved invaluable to these countries.
In February 1992, EUMETSAT signed a Cooperation Agreement with the then Czechoslovakia to provide Meteosat data. This was the first Agreement with a former eastern European country.
During the late 1980s EUMETSAT worked with NOAA to define suitable meteorological packages for polar orbit.
· From 1986, the Organisation acted as the Secretariat for the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (then called the Coordination of Geostationary Meteorological Satellites). This informal group encompasses relevant organisations from China, Europe, India, Russia, Japan and the USA and ensures global cooperation among meteorological satellite operators.
These are but a few of the additional activities the Organisation undertook during the period in which it was growing to maturity.
The time since 1992 has been equally as busy as the early years, and EUMETSAT has confronted many difficult issues, including selection of the instruments to fly on Metop, setting a policy for access to and charging for data, and negotiating cooperation with NOAA. The two bodies had their own issues to resolve when the USA decided to combine its defence and civilian capabilities for meteorological satellites. A means had to be found of satisfying US military national security concerns whilst not ceding control of European missions to the USA. Agreement was essential because the relationship between NOAA and EUMETSAT is highly significant in terms of meteorology.
In short, EUMETSAT has undergone a decade and a half of hard slog as it grew to organisational maturity and established its programmes and main relationships. Now the results are to be seen in the Meteosat Second Generation and the EUMETSAT Polar System. For the next decade and a half, the programmes, the foundations of which were laid in the first six years and brought to fruition during the next seven years, will be beaming their meteorological data earthward.
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