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FORMOSAT-3 contributes greatly to meteorological research: report

ROC Central News Agency

2011/04/13 19:38:52

By Yang Shu-min and Y.F. Low

Taipei, April 13 (CNA) The FORMOSAT-3 satellite mission has processed massive amounts of observation data since its launch on April 15, 2006, contributing greatly to the world's weather, climate and geodetic research, according to a report published by the National Space Organization (NSO) ahead of the expiration of the system's five-year design life.

The information collected includes 2.56 million atmospheric profiles and 2.64 million ionospheric profiles, which are accessible to 1,508 registered users from 55 countries, the report said.

The report was released to coincide with the 5th FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC Data Users Workshop and International Conference on GPS Radio Occultation 2011 that is being held April 13-15 in Taipei.

The users of FORMOSAT's data include the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, the United Kingdom Meteorological Office, the Japan Meteorological Agency and the Canadian Meteorological Centre, the report stated.

FORMOSAT-3, also known as a constellation observing system for meteorology, ionosphere and climate (COSMIC), is a joint Taiwan-U.S.

mission consisting of six identical micro satellites, each carrying an advanced GPS radio occultation (RO) receiver. It is the third major project of the Formosa satellite series implemented by the NSO.

According to the NSO, the GPS RO data has potentially great benefit for climate studies due to its unprecedented accuracy, demonstrated high precision and global and diurnal sampling coverage.

The RO sensors are regarded as the most accurate and stable thermometers in space, the NSO said.

Over the past five years, the FORMOSAT-3 mission has led to breakthroughs in scientific research on equatorial anomaly, atmospheric standing waves, plasma cave and plasma depletion bay, the NSO said.

Considerable achievements have also been attained in the observation of temperature vertical structure in the Antarctic stratosphere, global climate observation, the El Nino/La Nina-Southern Oscillation, and typhoon forecasts.

The NSO said that with FORMOSAT-3 reaching the end of its design life, its critical capability has begun to degrade. Taiwan and the United States are currently working on a plan to jointly develop and launch FOMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2, a high reliability, next-generation system, it added.