On 1 August 1991, a European geostationary satellite (METEOSAT-3) started operation from a new position at 50°W. This extends westward the European capability to monitor midlatitude storm tracks and assists the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for surveying Atlantic basin and coastal areas. This note announces the new Atlantic Data Coverage with METEOSAT-3, summarizes the history of the METEOSAT program, describes the image data and its calibration, and indicates some prospective NOAA applications of the METEOSAT-3 data from 50°W.
*European Space Agency, European Space Operations Centre, 6100 Darmstadt, Germany
+NOAA/NESDIS Advanced Satellite Products Project, Madison, Wisconsin