PARIS — Europe and China will exchange data from their ocean-monitoring satellites under an agreement signed Aug. 30, Europe’s meteorological organization, Eumetsat, announced.
Under the agreement between Darmstadt, Germany-based Eumetsat and China’s National Satellite Ocean Application Service (NSOAS), Eumetsat will provide NSOAS with data from the U.S.-European Jason-2 and Jason-3 ocean-monitoring satellites, as well as Europe’s Metop polar-orbiting meteorological spacecraft.
NSOAS will provide Eumetsat with similar scatterometer and altimetry data from the Chinese HY-1 and HY-2 ocean-color satellites, which like the Eumetsat sensors fly in low Earth orbit.
Eumetsat Director-General Alain Ratier and NSOAS Director Jiang Xingwei signed the agreement in Beijing, Eumetsat said.
The agreement is the second between Eumetsat and Chinese organizations, following a 1998 accord with the China Meteorological Administration.
