5 November 2018
With liftoff set for 7 November, the latest MetOp weather satellite has been rolled out to the launch pad and positioned on the Soyuz rocket for its ride into space from French Guiana.
MetOp-C is the last in the current series of MetOp satellites, following on from MetOp-A and MetOp-B, which were launched in 2006 and 2012, respectively.
Launching the satellites sequentially ensures continuous observations of a host of atmospheric variables such as temperature, humidity, trace gases, ozone, and wind speed over the ocean.
These data are used mainly for numerical weather prediction – the basis for weather forecasting. Recent studies show that MetOp-A and MetOp-B have already reduced errors in one-day forecasts by as much as 27%.
