Swedish company sets better predictions in the Arctic



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A Swedish initiative will provide more reliable weather forecasts for the Arctic.  Stock Photography.

Photo: Photo: ESA / AP

A Swedish initiative will provide more reliable weather forecasts for the Arctic. Stock Photography.

NEWS

Better weather forecasts are expected for the Arctic thanks to a new European satellite system. The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed a contract with a Swedish company to build a prototype.

The Arctic Weather Satellite (AWS) satellite system is designed for polar orbits at much lower altitudes than the major European weather satellites on Meteosat.

That system operates in a 36,000-kilometer geostationary orbit directly across the equator. At that altitude, the speed of the satellites is the same as the speed of Earth’s rotation and is therefore stationary in relation to the Earth.

The problem is that Meteosat’s line of sight over the poles is poor. Therefore, a few years ago, ESA asked Member States what can be done to improve the weather forecast for the Arctic.

New system

A study by the company OHB Sweden was approved by the ESA and this week the contract was signed for the equivalent of 324 million Swedish crowns. In the project, OHB will lead an industrial consortium with 31 companies from twelve ESA countries.

– Arctic Weather Satellite is the first satellite project Sweden has started within ESA, says Christer Nilsson, Deputy Director General of the Swedish Space Agency.

The satellites in AWS are smaller and located at an altitude of about 600 kilometers. One revolution around the earth takes 97 minutes.

– One characteristic is that they pass over the Arctic, and indeed Antarctica, a lot of times a day, says Christer Nilsson.

– There is currently no corresponding satellite system.

Almost in real time

The basic idea is that AWS will complement the Meteosat data, with the aim of obtaining better forecasts of the climate in the Arctic.

The test satellite that OHB is building on behalf of ESA is scheduled to launch in 2023.

– So that it can later become an operating system, more satellites are needed. One proposal is that there should be 16 satellites in different orbits around the Earth. Then you can access current weather reports every minute, but maybe update quarterly.

AWS weather data is expected to be considerably more comprehensive than current ground weather stations can handle.

– The beauty of crow’s song is also that the data collected for weather reports at the same time provides important climate information, a scientific side effect that contributes to research on climate development in the Arctic, notes Christer Nilsson.

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