The satellite, its instruments and the ground-based infrastructure required to process images are currently undergoing testing, calibration, and validation. When these crucial activities have been completed, images will be produced and released operationally for use in weather forecasts and other key services.
Captured on 24 September 2025, METimage’s first scene spans Europe and North Africa, revealing intricate cloud structures linked to a cold front over central Europe, storm activity building over the Adriatic and central Mediterranean, and – under clear skies – vivid surface features such as the forests of the Carpathian and Balkan mountains, glistening lakes in Türkiye, and stark contrasts between North Africa’s deserts and greener terrain.
Subsequent pictures from the instruments first global sweep of images include dramatic views of Hurricane Humberto over the Atlantic and Tropical Storm Neoguri over the Pacific, vivid shifts in ocean colour from stirred sediments and bright sands in the Caribbean and off Australia, fog blanketing the US Great Lakes, and a cloud-free panorama of Asia with the Himalayas detailed down to individual snow-filled valleys.
Travelling around 830 kilometres above Earth in a polar, sun-synchronous orbit on Metop-SGA1, METimage is a new multi-spectral radiometer that provides near-global daily coverage. It observes in 20 visible-to-infrared channels at 500-metre resolution at nadir and with far sharper detail than its predecessor, the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on first-generation Metop satellites, which has a one-kilometre resolution at nadir. This capability supports precise observations of clouds, water vapour and aerosols, land and ocean surface temperatures, ice cover, vegetation and even active fires.
Specialists have also delivered early versions of the first data products, such as detailed cloud maps – vital tools for forecasts and for improving the performance of other satellite instruments, providing early glimpses of the power of METimage observations to strengthen numerical weather prediction, improve storm nowcasting, speed up wildfire detection, and support improved air-quality forecasts.
“In a year of deadly floods, searing heatwaves and devastating wildfires in Europe, the need for precise forecasts has never been clearer,” said Phil Evans, EUMETSAT’s Director-General.
“The first METimage pictures are truly exceptional in detail and colours, and these data will help national meteorological and hydrological services deliver more reliable forecasts and earlier, targeted warnings, better protecting people and infrastructure, reducing disruption and supporting economies. Delivering imagery of this quality and so soon after launch is a remarkable achievement by teams at EUMETSAT, the European Space Agency, the German Space Agency at DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; the German Aerospace Center), Airbus, our member states and international partners. Our focus now is to complete commissioning, fine-tune performance and provide operational data.”
Simonetta Cheli, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, said, “These images not only highlight the role that Metop Second Generation will play in providing essential data for weather forecasting and climate monitoring – they also highlight the value of strong partnerships between ESA, EUMETSAT and other key industrial players. As we face increasingly erratic weather patterns, working together to deliver timely and precise data has never been more critical.”
Walther Pelzer, DLR Executive Board Member and Director General of the German Space Agency at DLR said: “The number of extreme weather events is increasing significantly. Our everyday weather forecasting is largely based on satellite data. Thanks to its high spatial resolution, METimage will make a key contribution towards improving forecast quality. By contributing this cutting-edge technology, Germany is setting new standards in precise climate observation and weather forecasting. The great quality of the data just delivered emphasises that the high expectations of METimage are fully met. METimage is the contribution of the German Space Agency at DLR to the EUMETSAT Polar System, jointly financed by the federal Ministry of Transport (BMV) and EUMETSAT."