EUMETSAT, the European agency for meteorological satellites, has been observing the weather and climate from space since 1986. From its headquarters in Darmstadt, it operates fleets of satellites to observe the Earth system and continuously provides its 30 member states with real-time data and images that make a significant contribution to the safety of the population and support critical economic sectors.

In 2026, EUMETSAT celebrates its 40th anniversary and looks back on the successes achieved in four decades of Earth observation for weather and climate. With its observations supporting forecasting and climate monitoring in its member states and beyond, EUMETSAT today plays a central role in the international weather satellite system.

Four Meteosat satellites in geostationary orbit provide continuous observations of rapidly evolving weather events over Europe, Africa and the Indian Ocean. Two polar-orbiting Metop satellites provide crucial data for forecasts up to 10 days in advance.

EUMETSAT also supports EU policies to strengthen European sovereignty. In this context, the organization operates services, disseminates data as part of the Copernicus programme and leads the development and management of the Date Situation for the Destination Earth initiative.

The 30 member states of EUMETSAT are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

A look into the past?

The image viewer of EUMETSAT enables the visualisation of more than 35 years of Meteosat Imagery. Starting from 17 Aug 1981, one image of the earth as seen from Meteosat per day can be selected.

pics.eumetsat.int/viewer/index.html