The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and China State Oceanic Administration’s (SOA’s) National Satellite Ocean Application Service (NSOAS) signed on 30 August 2012 a cooperation agreement on the exchange of oceanographic satellite data. The agreement was signed in Beijing by the EUMETSAT Director-General, Alain Ratier, and the Director of NSOAS, Jiang Xingwei, in the presence of the Administrator of SOA, Cigui Liu.
Under the agreement, EUMETSAT will provide data from the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) instruments flying on the Metop satellites as well as from the Jason-2 and Jason-3 ocean topography missions. In return, NSOAS/SOA will provide data from the HY-1 and HY-2 satellites, adding Chinese altimeter, radiometer, and scatterometer data to EUMETSAT’s portfolio of third party data. The agreement also covers cooperation on data processing, scientific activities, calibration and validation.
This compromise will further increase European cooperation with China and create new opportunities for the oceanography user community.
