EUMETSAT signs cooperation agreement
with China State Oceanic Administration
30 August 2012
Today’s signature of a cooperation agreement
on the exchange of oceanographic satellite data between EUMETSAT and
the China State Oceanic Administration’s (SOA’s) National Satellite
Ocean Application Service (NSOAS) will further increase cooperation
with China and create new opportunities for the oceanography user
community.
The agreement was signed in Beijing
by the EUMETSAT Director-General, Alain Ratier, and the Director of
NSOAS, Jiang Xingwei, in the presence of the Administrator of SOA, Cigui
Liu.
Under the agreement, EUMETSAT will
provide data from the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) instruments flying
on the Metop satellites as well as from the Jason-2 and Jason-3 ocean
topography missions. In return, NSOAS/SOA will provide data from the
HY-1 and HY-2 satellites, adding Chinese altimeter, radiometer, and
scatterometer data to EUMETSAT’s portfolio of third party data. The
cooperation will consolidate the position of EUMETSAT as a key data
provider for the oceanography user community.
The agreement also covers cooperation
on data processing, scientific activities, calibration and validation.
The agreement with SOA is the second
major agreement between EUMETSAT and China. A first cooperation
agreement was signed with the China Meteorological Administration in
July 2008.
