OBSERVER: EUMETSAT expands its contribution to Copernicus through five new satellite missions
evan
Thu, 10/07/2025 – 15:26
Climate change affects the whole planet, making environmental monitoring more crucial than ever. In order to track its effects, EUMETSAT is collaborating with the European Commission on five new Copernicus satellite missions focusing on atmosphere monitoring and polar-cryosphere monitoring, while continuing to work together on two existing ocean-monitoring missions.
In this Observer, three EUMETSAT experts explain what these current missions monitor, what innovations these new missions will bring, and the importance of continuing to monitor the climate.
The atmosphere, oceans, and polar regions are part of a dynamic, life-sustaining system. Now, as severe weather events are becoming increasingly frequent and climate change is accelerating, EUMETSAT is expanding its contribution to Copernicus. In addition to the two ocean-monitoring missions it currently operates, EUMETSAT will support three new atmosphere-monitoring missions and two new polar-cryosphere-monitoring missions.
The Copernicus Sentinel-3 and Copernicus Sentinel-6 missions will continue to monitor key features of the ocean, while Copernicus Sentinel-4 and Copernicus Sentinel-5 will acquire data on atmospheric composition. Together, Copernicus Sentinel-4 and Sentinel-5 will become the core Copernicus missions for observations to monitor air quality and atmospheric composition operationally from space through the 2040s. The upcoming Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring (CO2M) mission will mark a milestone in atmospheric monitoring, by collecting data about anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.
To better monitor the crucial features of the fragile Arctic and Antarctic regions as well as the global ocean, the Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR) and the Polar Ice and Snow Topography Altimeter (CRISTAL) Copernicus Expansion Missions will provide important observations.
“The European Commission has entrusted EUMETSAT with an important role in these missions: to operate the spacecraft and deliver products from these Sentinel satellites and CO2M and to deliver products from CIMR and CRISTAL jointly with ESA,” said Lieven Bydekerke, Copernicus Programme Manager at EUMETSAT.
“It made this decision because of EUMETSAT’s experience operating Europe’s meteorological satellites and providing reliable, timely, and widely available weather data. Operating the Sentinel satellites together with meteorological spacecraft adds key environmental information essential for ocean, atmosphere and greenhouse gas monitoring for the benefit of Europe.”
Three new missions to monitor air quality and atmospheric composition
The two upcoming atmosphere-monitoring missions, Copernicus Sentinel-4 and Copernicus Sentinel-5, will provide crucial, complementary observations from two different types of orbit.
Copernicus Sentinel-4 is the first European air quality instrument to operate in geostationary orbit (GEO). Its main purpose is to observe the daily pattern of the composition of the troposphere, the lowest layer of atmosphere, throughout the daylight hours. Thanks to its measurements, it will become possible to more closely monitor air quality with a high temporal resolution over Europe, parts of North Africa and the Atlantic, as well as the ozone layer.
“The fact that Copernicus Sentinel-4 is in geostationary orbit is exciting because by observing the same spot from morning to evening, it will be able to capture changes throughout the day,” said Dr Rasmus Lindstrot, Competence Area Manager in Atmospheric Chemistry at EUMETSAT.
“This, combined with its very high temporal resolution, with observations once an hour, will enable the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) to operationally assimilate these data into their models and use them to forecast air quality in Europe with a very high level of accuracy.”
“Copernicus Sentinel-5 will also play an important role in atmospheric monitoring but in a different way. With that low Earth orbit mission, you get a global snapshot of the atmosphere at the same local time every day. This makes it possible to monitor not just air quality and the ozone layer, as Sentinel-4 will, but also greenhouse gases including methane,” he continued.
Copernicus Sentinel-4 and Copernicus Sentinel-5 will provide data which can be used to monitor fluctuations in the stratospheric ozone layer as well as pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, emitted mostly through combustion processes, and sulphur dioxide, released by industrial activities and volcanic activity.
Copernicus Sentinel-5 will provide continuity for the critical measurements acquired by its predecessors, the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment–2 (GOME-2) on board the Metop satellites, and the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on the Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor (Sentinel-5P), which are currently operating beyond their nominal lifetimes.
The observations from both Copernicus Sentinel-4 and Copernicus Sentinel-5 will complement other satellite-based measurements. Adopting an effective synergistic approach this will provide a more complete picture of the atmosphere
“Copernicus Sentinel-5 is a payload on board Metop Second Generation, a satellite which carries many instruments,” said Lindstrot.
“This gives us the possibility to combine observations from a number of instruments on the same platform with different strengths. This is a clear plus compared to TROPOMI, which is the only instrument on board Sentinel-5P. Also, observations from Copernicus Sentinel-4 could complement those from the other instrument on the Meteosat Third Generation – Sounder satellites, the Infrared Sounder.”
Together, Copernicus Sentinel-4 and Copernicus Sentinel-5, developed by ESA under the EU Space Programme and operated by EUMETSAT, will constitute the European contribution to the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites’ Atmospheric Composition Virtual Constellation.
“Because of the better spatial resolution we will get from both missions compared to what we have now, we will actually be able to see much more detail, such as the plumes from individual cities or industrial areas,” said Lindstrot.
“For example, we generally see elevated nitrogen dioxide levels in parts of Europe such as the Netherlands and Western Germany. With the contributions of these new atmosphere-monitoring missions, we will be able to see better where certain key gases are coming from, where they are transported and what their lifetime in the atmosphere is. Through an improved understanding of the life cycle of pollution, decision makers will be able to better implement measures where they are most needed.”
The Copernicus Sentinel-4 instrument, the Ultraviolet Visible Near-infrared (UVN) spectrometer, was successfully placed in orbit 1 July 2025 on board the Meteosat Third Generation – Sounder 1 (MTG-S1). The Copernicus Sentinel-5 instrument, the Ultraviolet Visible Near-infrared Short-wave infrared spectrometer (UVNS), is set for launch in August on board the Metop Second Generation A1 satellite.
The third atmospheric monitoring mission, the Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring mission (CO2M), is scheduled to launch its first satellite in 2027. By monitoring carbon dioxide and methane with a high level of accuracy and spatial resolution, CO2M will provide observations of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions which will be invaluable for evaluating progress towards the Paris Agreement targets.
“With CO2M, we will have an operational system which will deliver independent, transparent information on carbon dioxide concentrations for the first time ever,” said Bydekerke.
“The constellation will consist of three satellites which will each make possible coverage at a scale that is currently unprecedented. At EUMETSAT, we look forward to working very closely with the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, which will translate those observations into measurements that can be used to assess the anthropogenic emissions produced in Europe and across the globe.”
Supporting continued observation of the ocean
These atmospheric monitoring missions will complement two ocean-monitoring missions currently in flight: Copernicus Sentinel-3 and Copernicus Sentinel-6. They are also part of the EU Space Programme, developed by ESA, and operated by EUMETSAT, which is also responsible for processing and disseminating the marine data. Both satellite missions carry state-of-the-art altimeters used to measure global sea-level height, wave height, and wind speed over the oceans.
“The Copernicus Sentinel-6 mission plays a key role as the reference mission against which all other altimetry measurements are calibrated,” said Dr Hayley Evers-King, EUMETSAT Lead Marine Applications Expert.
“That being said, one mission is never enough with altimetry. You’ve always got to have as many of them going as you can to get the full coverage across the globe. So, all altimetry missions are important, but the Copernicus Sentinel-6 mission is particularly critical. It’s a keystone mission—extending the availability of essential, high-quality climate measurements.”
The second satellite in the series, Copernicus Sentinel-6B, is planned for launch in November 2025. It will carry the Poseidon-4 altimeter, which will ensure continuity of the time series of mean sea level height measurements dating back to 1991 with TOPEX/Poseidon.
Copernicus Sentinel-3 carries not only a Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimeter, but also additional instruments which measure sea surface temperature and ocean colour. These data play an important role in better understanding marine phenomena such as marine heatwaves and algal blooms.
“EUMETSAT’s role as a Copernicus Entrusted Entity within the EU Space Programme for the Copernicus Sentinel-3 and 6 missions expands our heritage in providing ocean data, which contributes to weather, climate, and environmental monitoring,” said Evers-King.
“These satellite missions provide essential input to the vast majority of products from the Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS), adding significant value to these data.”
New Copernicus Expansion Missions to monitor the polar regions and the global ocean
In addition, two further satellite expansion missions will improve monitoring of polar regions, in response to the growing need to observe changes in the cryosphere. The Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR) mission will measure sea ice concentrations and sea surface temperature in Arctic and Antarctic regions, while the Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography Altimeter (CRISTAL) will set its sights on sea ice thickness and ice sheet heights at and around the poles.
These two missions will also deliver critical data about the global ocean, with CIMR mapping sea surface temperature and salinity and CRISTAL delivering data on sea level and wave heights.
CIMR and CRISTAL are being developed by ESA under the Copernicus component of the EU Space Programme. ESA will be responsible for operating the satellites following launch and will generate the polar products, while EUMETSAT will generate the ocean products. Both satellite missions are planned for launch near the end of the 2020s.
“Copernicus is not just the largest Earth Observation data provider in Europe but the largest of its kind in the world,” said Bydekerke.
“EUMETSAT’s contribution to Copernicus helps ensure that Europe delivers space-based observations on a global scale for a variety of applications, from land to sea to the atmosphere. I’m really looking forward to the upcoming launches and to people having the opportunity to work with the new data for the benefit of society”, he added.
The three new atmosphere-monitoring missions and two new polar-cryosphere-monitoring missions, in addition to the two current ocean-monitoring missions, will enable EUMETSAT and other partners, to collect more and better data essential for monitoring the impact of climate change in the future.
Thu, 10/07/2025 – 12:00