Data gathered by the Formosat-7/COSMIC-2 satellite will be released daily, US and Taiwanese officials have announced.
The Formosat-7/COSMIC-2 program is a constellation with six satellites for observing and monitoring global meteorology, climate and ionosphere.
Each satellite carries a suite of payloads including an advanced GNSS receiver to low-inclination-angle orbits.
They collect atmospheric data at low- and mid-latitudes to provide more sounding data to improve regional and global weather forecasting.
Two satellites are in their planned orbits at 550km (340 miles), with the remaining four due to reach their target orbits by February next year.
They can provide more than 4,000 atmospheric profiles per day to a numerical weather prediction model.
The data will improve weather forecast accuracy, with several major weather organizations starting to make use of this data.
The announcement of daily data follows three months of trials and although the previous day’s data is available, the aim is to release it in near real-time in the future.
