The First Image from EUMETSAT’s Newest Satellite | Hacker News Reader

The First Image from EUMETSAT’s Newest Satellite

eumetsat.int

129 pointsjulienchastang23 comments

The new imager (FCI) will be fantastic for studying the atmosphere, particularly clouds and aerosols (like desert dust).

The older imager (SEVIRI) didn't have a blue channel, so all the true-colour images have to be synthesised from data at other wavelengths, giving some of the clouds a characteristic light blue shine. FCI doesn't have that issue, meaning that it can create better 'true-colour images'. It actually has a real green channel too (unlike the GOES ABI instrument), although the iamges from both look brilliant.

This blue channel doesn't just help make images look nice, it is also important for measuring aerosols like dust. At blue wavelengths, the surface tends to be much darker, meaning that you can measure aerosols over even relatively bright surfaces (like deserts). With the Sahara looming pretty large in the image, you can see why that might be important! [1]

FCI also has some high resolution near-IR channels (including the 2.3 one at 500m resolution). This is fantastic for studying clouds, as the reflectivity of clouds at this wavelength allows you to measure droplet size (which is important for understanding cloud processes) [2]. Very few other instruments have this capability, and none of the existing geostationary satellites do (obviously other than MTG).

[1] - https://earth.gsfc.nasa.gov/climate/data/deep-blue/science

[2] - https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/14/2479/2014/

A great explanation that takes in exactly what I was wondering about when doing the image comparisons.

In case anyone is wondering, studying these aerosols is very important to our understanding of global ecology because the desert dust coming off the Sahara [1] supplies critical nutrients like phosphorus from the Bodélé Depression [2] in Chad to the Amazon rainforest on the other side of the planet [3]!

This satellite will improve our ability to study this planetary transfer of nutrients and see if we can discover any other such connections.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saharan_dust

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bod%C3%A9l%C3%A9_Depression

[3] https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-satellite-reveals-...

If you just want to see the actual raw images from the sat, they're here (seems it's 11k x 11k for a full disc):

https://imagine.eumetsat.int/smartViews/view?view=MTG-I1Firs...

Note, each image opens with a magnifier slider at the bottom, easy to miss on mobile.

The preview seems to be limited to a 3000x3000 jpeg.

You can "add the images to basket" to download the originals, which provides a 157MB png, in the case of "full_disk_FCI_true_color_202303181150.png"

The video of the full disc also seems to be in a much lower resolution... do you know if they offer the full resolution video anywhere?

Best thing: they use the <video> tag to display the videos instead of a bunch of javascript.

Only on HN :)

> [...] until late 2023, when the images will be produced every 10 minutes and released operationally for use in weather forecasts.

Will they gatekeep that image feed? I'm assuming they will, but I would be delighted to read that my assumption is wrong.

This is one thing the US government does so much better than most European governments. The US government-collected data tends to be open.

I was just watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGWFg7EDnyY and I wonder if some satellites encrypt the content before sending it to earth.

According to the site terms, the satellite imagery is available only for personal, non-commercial use and requires explicit permission otherwise.

>This is one thing the US government does so much better than European governments. Their government-collected data tends to be open.

Indeed.

That's because works created by the US Government are public domain (at least within the US).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_status_of_works_by_t...

That makes so much sense. I wish the EU (and/or European countries in general) would enact something similar but I think may be too late to do the same here now. Way too many stupid little fiefdoms "owned" by socially powerful people with short-sighted self interests.

The US did it in 1895 before the massive expansion of that particular social class. Smart.

(I guess a similar social class is doing very well in "non-profits" in the US these days, instead.)

Scientific datasets from unique projects are typically embargoed for several months, to give the participating scientists time to publish. This is also true for the US.

I suspect it will at least be publicly available, although there might be some terms attached (I don't know).

SEVIRI (the current instrument) has data available through the EUMETSAT data store. It was a while since I registered, but it was at least free for personal/educational/research use at that point.

edit to add - the current iamgery is also available here [2]. Excellent if you want some psycadellic composite imagery. Day microphysics is a personal favourite, although I am biased... [3]

[1] - https://data.eumetsat.int/extended?query=High%20Rate%20SEVIR...

[2] - https://eumetview.eumetsat.int/static-images/latestImages.ht...

[3] - https://eumetview.eumetsat.int/static-images/MSG/RGB/MICROPH...

(Thanks for those links.)

> at least free for personal/educational/research use

That's closer to gatekept than open, IMO.

Yes, they will strongly gate keep it, as is typical for publicly funded data in Europe :(

It'll be part of the same licence structure - 8000 euros per year for a licence to use and distribute, 4000 without distribution.

> This is one thing the US government does so much better than most European governments.

That's due to a difference in governing laws: Works prepared by Government employees in the furtherance of their official duties are not copyrightable in the United States (17 U.S.C. 105), and are in the public domain. Therefore, copying these works is not infringing any copyright

Having a picture of the cloud coverage every 10 minutes sounds very useful to improve the nowcasting of solar energy production.

I’m excited to use this data, if it’s easily available. Perhaps it will be through the Norwegian Meteorological Institute at some point.

https://www.met.no/en/free-meteorological-data

Old ball of dirt never gets old to look at.

Is there a way to decode downlink directly, like the old NOAA satellites?

It's encrypted. You need a licence and special software from EUMETSAT.

I wonder if binge watching hours and hours of hires cloud dynamics will make me look at the local sky and be able to predict things.

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