Objectives
The main goals of the coordination activities of the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites are to support operational weather monitoring and forecasting as well as climate monitoring, in response to requirements formulated by WMO, its programmes and other programmes jointly supported by WMO and other international agencies.
It is the policy of CGMS to coordinate satellite systems of its members in an end-to-end perspective, including protection of in-orbit assets and support to users – e.g. through appropriate training – as required to facilitate and develop shared access to and use of satellite data and products in various applications. This policy is reflected in the structure of the so called High Level Priority Plan (HLPP) initially endorsed by CGMS-40 plenary session in 2012, covering: Coordination of observing systems and protection of assets:
- Coordination of observing systems and protection of assets
- Data dissemination, direct read out services and contribution to the WIS product development
- Enhance the quality of satellite-derived data and products
- Outreach and training activities
- Cross-cutting issues and new challenges
Charter
The objectives of CGMS are formalised within its Charter:
- CGMS provides a forum for the exchange of technical information on geostationary and polar-orbiting meteorological satellite systems and research & development missions, such as reporting on current meteorological satellite status and future plans, telecommunications matters, operations, intercalibration of sensors, processing algorithms, products and their validation, data transmission formats and future data transmission standards.
- CGMS harmonises meteorological satellite mission parameters (such as orbits, sensors, data formats and downlink frequencies) to the greatest extent possible.
- CGMS encourages complementarity, compatibility and possible mutual back-up in the event of system failure through cooperative mission planning, compatible meteorological data products and services and the coordination of space and data-related activities, thus complementing the work of other international satellite coordinating mechanisms.
