{"id":7071,"date":"2014-06-13T19:23:42","date_gmt":"2014-06-13T16:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uni-mag.gr\/mtg-meteosat-third-generation\/"},"modified":"2024-05-30T18:19:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T15:19:24","slug":"mtg-meteosat-third-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uni-mag.gr\/en\/mtg-meteosat-third-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"What is: MTG (Meteosat Third Generation)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The weather has a huge impact on our lives on a daily basis: what will we wear tomorrow? What will we do tomorrow? Is it safe to travel by plane? Will we have dangerous flooding? Shall we go swimming in the sea, or will it rain? <\/p>\n\n

Many such questions make us realise the need for a weather forecasting system. What about climate change? Will all the ice from the poles melt? What about penguins and polar bears? <\/p>\n\n

The weather forecast, on a daily basis, is mainly based on models and data that we have constructed\/collected from ground and space data. The European Space Agency (ESA) launched the first satellite to monitor the Earth’s weather and climate, Meteosat-1, in 1977. The latest version of such a satellite is the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG). The company responsible for its construction is the German company EUMETSAT. More information, in English, can be found here<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n

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This satellite consists of three similar satellites, as shown in the image above. Launched in December 2022 from French Guiana on ESA’s Ariane 5 rocket.<\/p>\n\n

MTG is a ‘geostationary’ satellite, which means that it is constantly over the same spot on Earth, 36,000 kilometres above the equator. The MTG will continuously observe 80% of the Earth’s total disk. It will continuously record electrical discharges caused by lightning and thunder. The data collected will allow EUMETSAT to record and warn about the weather situation. For example, it will warn of fires and rain in Greece and beyond. <\/p>\n\n

Two of the three satellites shown are used to make images of the electrical discharges that occur in clouds. These electrical discharges are the lightning and thunderstorms that we know and understand well. Each camera can capture 1,000 images per second, no matter if it’s day or night.<\/p>\n\n

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The Ariane 5 rocket that launched and put MTG into orbit. The dimensions of the rocket can be compared to the height of the people in the same photo.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In general, more lightning than thunder occurs. It has been recorded that these electric shocks kill about 2,000 people a year. Recently (summer 2023), at least 12,000 lightning strikes were detected in Magnesia and Larissa in Greece alone, within 2 hours (05\/09\/2023) due to the bad weather of Daniel. Citizens in these areas of Greece say there should have been bad weather prevention. It is precisely this ‘prediction’ of weather and climate change that the new data from MTG will try to improve.<\/p>\n\n

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The lightning and thunder that MTG will try to record while 36,000 kilometres away in space. It can detect lightning and thunder with a spatial accuracy of 2 kilometres, even though it is so far away.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Good luck to MTG and we hope that the summer of 2023 that caught us all unprepared will not happen again. <\/p>\n\n

More information about MTG:<\/a> <\/p>\n\n

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