Arctic Weather satellite improves wind forecasts

Although ESA’s small Arctic Weather Satellite was built as a demonstrator for a future constellation, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is now incorporating its data into its operational weather forecast system.

The beneficial impact of assimilating Arctic Weather Satellite into ECMWF’s forecast system can already be seen in several fields. This figure shows the normalised change in root-mean-square error (RMSE) for winds at one- and three-day lead times, compared to ECMWF's analysis. Blue colours indicate improvements (i.e. reduced forecast error). Hatching shows statistically significant changes at the 95% confidence level. Experiments cover 1 January to 30 June 2025, using Cycle 49r1 of ECMWF’s Integrated Forecasting System with a 27 km model resolution.

Read full story: ESA’s Arctic Weather Satellite adds power to forecasts