The Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS) coordinates the activities of operational and research and development space agencies in support of weather forecasting, ocean and climate monitoring
The CGMS came into being on 19 September 1972. The group was established by Japan, the USA, and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), in order to find common ground on geostationary meteorological satellite programmes and coordinate the satellite contributions to the First GARP Global Experiment (FGGE) in 1979.
Since then, the CGMS has evolved to also cover institutional operational and research and development satellite programmes in low-Earth orbit which are expected in the future to be complemented by satellites on highly elliptical orbits. This ensures that the users of data from these missions can easily receive, retrieve and use the data and products for improved weather forecasting, ocean and climate monitoring, space weather and other applications.
Today, the CGMS is constituted by the WMO and the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, representing the global meteorological and ocean data user communities, together with institutional space agencies, forming the observational backbone of the WMO Global Observing System.
Objective
The CGMS’s goal is to globally coordinate operational and research and development satellite systems for meteorology, oceanography, climate and space weather.
Main activities
This includes protection of in-orbit assets, contingency planning, improvement of the quality of data, support for data users, facilitation of shared data access through various means and development of the use of satellite products in key application areas. The potential contribution of artificial intelligence and machine learning to these application areas also is a field of interest.
The CGMS has endorsed the space-based observing system component of the Vision for WIGOS (WMO Integrated Global Observing System and will provide inputs to future updates of that Vision as necessary.
CGMS performs an annual risk assessment analysing risks in the implementation of the CGMS Baselineand identifying areas for development of the CGMS response to the WIGOS vision.
In 2005, the CGMS space agencies, together with the WMO, established the Global Space-based Inter-Calibration System (GSICS), an international collaboration group to monitor, improve and harmonise data quality from operational environmental satellites for climate monitoring and weather forecasting.
The CGMS also developed the Virtual Laboratory for Training and Education in Satellite Meteorology (VLab), a global network of specialised training centres and meteorological satellite operators working together to improve the utilisation of data and products from meteorological and environmental satellites.
In 2010, the CGMS and the Committee on Earth Observation Satellite (CEOS) created the joint CEOS-CGMS Working Group on Climate.
Our role
With the launch of the first European meteorological satellite in 1986, EUMETSAT joined the CGMS in 1987 and has since been its permanent Secretariat. The CGMS Secretariat represents CGMS members in international bodies such as the WMO Congress and Executive Council, the Space Frequency Coordination Group and the Group on Earth Observation.
For more information, please visit the CGMS website.
