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:

  1. Coordination of observing systems and protection of assets
  2. Data dissemination, direct read out services and contribution to the WIS product development
  3. Enhance the quality of satellite-derived data and products
  4. Outreach and training activities
  5. 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.

Click here for the complete CGMS charter.

HLPP - High Level Priority Plan

The main goals of the coordination activities of the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites - CGMS - 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:

  1. Coordination of observing systems and protection of assets
  2. Coordination of data access, contributions to the WMO Information System (WIS)
  3. Enhance the quality of satellite-derived data and products
  4. Outreach and training activities
  5. Cross-cutting issues and new challenges

The HLPP is a rolling 5-year plan and is seen as part of a longer term perspective, in particular as regards the new challenges raised by climate monitoring in the context of the implementation of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) as approved by the Extraordinary Congress of WMO on 31 October 2012.

The plan is reviewed on an annual basis, considering in particular new requirements and perspectives arising from interactions with the user and scientific communities, the development of applications, e.g. Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP), and relevant research activities. The plan will also ensure proper interaction with other space agencies and their relevant constituencies (e.g. CEOS including its working groups and virtual constellations).

Highlight priorities for the period 2014-2018 include:

  • The advancement of the implementation of the space-based Global Observing System (GOS), in particular the full implementation of the constellation of three polar Low Earth orbit planes;
  • Advancing the architecture for climate monitoring from space through the joint CEOS-CGMS Working Group on Climate (JWGClimate);
  • Preparation of users for the next generation of meteorological satellites in GEO and LEO orbits;
  • The implementation of advanced concepts for satellite data dissemination, posing new demands for CGMS global coordination;
  • Protection of frequencies, in particular C-band instrument sensing frequencies;
  • Coordination of systems for fast exchange of locally received data from Low Earth Orbit satellites;
  • The integration of the CGMS satellite systems in WIGOS and WIS;
  • Space Weather coordination; and
  • Assessment of the socio-economic benefits of investment in Earth observation satellite missions.

Click here for the complete text of the HLPP.