Meteosat-9 is planned to take over Meteosat-8 as the prime satellite for the IODC service from 1 June 2022.

10 February 2022

Meteosat-9, currently positioned at 3.5° E, will take over Meteosat-8 as the prime IODC (Indian Ocean Data Coverage) satellite, at the target longitude of 45.5° E, from 1 June 2022. After 20 years of service Meteosat-8 is now reaching its end of life. The spacecraft will be retired to a graveyard orbit later this year.

Meteosat-9 will start drifting towards this new longitude on 1 February 2022. The drift rate during its journey will be in average of ~0.5 deg/day.

Meteosat-9 is planned to arrive to its new longitude 45.5° E on 20 April 2022, when it will become geostationary again thanks to a drift stop manoeuvre.

To facilitate user transition, a parallel IODC service will be in place during these periods:

From 25 April to 1 June 2022

Meteosat-9 will provide parallel IODC service while Meteosat-8 continues to provide the prime IODC service.

Meteosat-9 image data will be disseminated in parallel from 25 April 09:00 UTC* to 1 June, via EUMETCast Europe.

*Note: there will be an associated risk of interruption to the data.

Meteosat-9 meteorological products will be disseminated in parallel from 9 May 09:00 UTC to 1 June, via EUMETCast Europe and via the GTS (for the sub-set of products distributed on the GTS).

During this period, Meteosat-9 filenames will contain ‘PAR’ (for ‘parallel’).

Examples

Meteosat-9 image data:

H-000-MSG2__-MSG2_IODCPAR-_________-PRO______-202202031045-__

H-000-MSG2__-MSG2_IODCPAR-HRV______-000001___-202202031045-C_

H-000-MSG2__-MSG2_IODCPAR-IR_016___-000001___-202202031045-C_

H-000-MSG2__-MSG2_IODCPAR-_________-EPI______-202202031045-__

Meteosat-9 meteorological products:

L-000-MSG2__-MPEF_IODCPAR-AMV______-000001___-202202031030-__

L-000-MSG2__-MPEF_IODCPAR-AMV______-PRO______-202202031030-__

L-000-MSG2__-MPEF_IODCPAR-ASR______-000001___-202202031045-__

L-000-MSG2__-MPEF_IODCPAR-ASR______-PRO______-202202031045-__

From 1 June 09:00 UTC to 1 July 2022 09:00 UTC

Meteosat-8 will provide parallel IODC service while Meteosat-9 provides the prime IODC service.

Meteosat-8 image data will be disseminated in parallel via EUMETCast Europe, and Meteosat-8 meteorological products will be disseminated in parallel via EUMETCast Europe and via the GTS (for the sub-set of products distributed on the GTS).

During this period, Meteosat-8 filenames will contain ‘PAR’ (for ‘parallel’).

Examples

Meteosat-8 image data:

H-000-MSG1__-MSG1_IODCPAR-_________-PRO______-202202031045-__

H-000-MSG1__-MSG1_IODCPAR-HRV______-000001___-202202031045-C_

H-000-MSG1__-MSG1_IODCPAR-IR_016___-000001___-202202031045-C_

H-000-MSG1__-MSG1_IODCPAR-_________-EPI______-202202031045-__

Meteosat-8 meteorological products:

L-000-MSG1__-MPEF_IODCPAR-AMV______-000001___-202202031030-__

L-000-MSG1__-MPEF_IODCPAR-AMV______-PRO______-202202031030-__

L-000-MSG1__-MPEF_IODCPAR-ASR______-000001___-202202031045-__

L-000-MSG1__-MPEF_IODCPAR-ASR______-PRO______-202202031045-__

Dissemination of the parallel data streams:

EUMETCast Europe: channel E1B-MSG-PAR (multicast address: 224.223.222.3, PID: 500).

GTS: for full details on the changes in the GTS bulletin headers that EUMETSAT will perform, see Meteosat-9 relocation to IODC – GTS Bulletin Headers.

From 1 July 2022, Meteosat-8 will stop providing the parallel IODC service. On this same date, the Data Collection Service will be activated on Meteosat-9.

NOTE: From 1 February 2022, Meteosat-9 will no longer be used as backup satellite for the Full Earth Scan Service and will no longer provide RSS gap-filling during Meteosat-10 RSS interruptions.

For any questions, contact our User Service Helpdesk.