Meteosat Second Generation (MSG)
Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) is a significantly enhanced follow-on system to the previous generation of Meteosat. MSG consists of a series of four geostationary meteorological satellites, along with ground-based infrastructure, that will operate consecutively untill 2018. The first MSG satellite to be launched was Meteosat-8, in 2002. The second satellite followed up in December 2005.
MSG has been designed in response to user requirements and serves the needs of Nowcasting applications and Numerical Weather Prediction in addition to provision of important data for climate monitoring and research. The MSG system has brought major improvements in these services through the 12 spectral bands (3 in the previous system) of its radiometer, the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI). COM DEV designed, developed and delivered the MSG Preamplifiers for the SEVIRI Instrument.
SEVIRI delivers daylight images of the weather patterns with a resolution of 3 km, plus atmospheric pseudo-sounding and thermal information. The High Resolution Visible (HRV) channel has a resolution of 1 km. The full disc view allows frequent sampling, every 15 minutes, enabling monitoring of rapidly evolving events. This aids the weather forecaster in the swift recognition and prediction of dangerous weather phenomena such as thunderstorms, heavy rain, fog and explosive development of small but intense depressions, which can lead to devastating windstorms.