Critical satellite infrastructure starts deployment in Africa
en-GBde-DEes-ESfr-FR

Critical satellite infrastructure starts deployment in Africa


The first of a series of PUMA-2025 receiving stations specifically designed to capture data from the next-generation of Meteosat geostationary satellites was installed today in Nairobi, Kenya. It will ensure that Kenyan meteorologists can use the most accurate and frequent data from the Meteosat-Third Generation (MTG) satellites to support the sustainable development of local communities and protect lives and livelihoods.

EUMETSAT supports the African Union Commission’s effort to set up a network of similar stations in several national weather and climate services across the entire continent in the following months. This will empower most African meteorologists and scientists with the most recent technology to receive and use MTG data.

EUMETSAT’s Meteosat satellites are the only Earth observation satellites that have a constant view of Africa. MTG will provide higher resolution images of Africa than is possible now and more frequently, that is, every 10 minutes.

“The African Union and EUMETSAT signed an agreement in 2022 to ensure that the right infrastructure would be implemented to empower African users with data from MTG,” explains Phil Evans, EUMETSAT Director-General. “The milestone we just passed ensures continuity of satellite data reception across the continent, enabling more efficient early warnings for all, more accurate forecasting of extreme weather events, and better protection for all.”

The first PUMA station was installed almost 20 years ago, in February 2004, to receive Meteosat-Second Generation (MSG) data within the framework of the Preparation for Use of Meteosat in Africa (PUMA) project. Until now, thanks to the support of various EU-funded programmes in Africa (such as PUMA, AMESD, MESA) this infrastructure successfully enabled African weather and climate services across the entire continent to receive data from the Meteosat geostationary satellites in a timely and efficient way, to forecast and monitor extreme weather events. The current installations aim at upgrading the infrastructure for MTG; it will be accompanied by relevant trainings to maximise benefits for meteorologists and enable local maintenance.

Upcoming installations include a station in Cotonou, Benin, where the 16th EUMETSAT User Forum in Africa will take place. The event will provide a platform for African meteorologists to share knowledge and best practices on the use of the Meteosat data and discuss perspectives to improve Early Warning systems.

Read more about the benefits of the EUMETSAT data in Kenya.
Attached files
  • The African Union Commission (AUC) team coordinating the deployment of the new PUMA station for the EU-funded ClimSA project visited EUMETSAT in May 2024. From left to right: Paolo Sidoli, EUMETSAT, Ulrich Diasso, AUC, Jolly Wasambo, AUC, Erdem Erdi, EUMETSAT, Gordon Smith, EUMETSAT, Harsen Nyambe, AUC, Vincent Gabaglio, EUMETSAT.
Regions: Europe, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Africa, Benin, Kenya
Keywords: Science, Earth Sciences, Environment - science, People in science, Space Science

Disclaimer: AlphaGalileo is not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to AlphaGalileo by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the AlphaGalileo system.

Testimonials

For well over a decade, in my capacity as a researcher, broadcaster, and producer, I have relied heavily on Alphagalileo.
All of my work trips have been planned around stories that I've found on this site.
The under embargo section allows us to plan ahead and the news releases enable us to find key experts.
Going through the tailored daily updates is the best way to start the day. It's such a critical service for me and many of my colleagues.
Koula Bouloukos, Senior manager, Editorial & Production Underknown
We have used AlphaGalileo since its foundation but frankly we need it more than ever now to ensure our research news is heard across Europe, Asia and North America. As one of the UK’s leading research universities we want to continue to work with other outstanding researchers in Europe. AlphaGalileo helps us to continue to bring our research story to them and the rest of the world.
Peter Dunn, Director of Press and Media Relations at the University of Warwick
AlphaGalileo has helped us more than double our reach at SciDev.Net. The service has enabled our journalists around the world to reach the mainstream media with articles about the impact of science on people in low- and middle-income countries, leading to big increases in the number of SciDev.Net articles that have been republished.
Ben Deighton, SciDevNet

We Work Closely With...


  • BBC
  • The Times
  • National Geographic
  • The University of Edinburgh
  • University of Cambridge
  • iesResearch
Copyright 2024 by AlphaGalileo Terms Of Use Privacy Statement