ERS-2 has new role 'nowcasting' Europe's weather After nine
years in orbit, veteran ESA satellite ERS-2 has taken on a new
role, supporting real-time 'nowcasting' of swiftly moving
weather systems in the seas around Europe. Most major European
weather events have their birth in the North Atlantic or seas to
the north of our continent. Limited observations across these
regions mean that weather forecasters are often blindsided by
sudden storms and associated phenomena that may wreck havoc upon
reaching land. However an instrument aboard ERS-2 called a radar
scatterometer can 'see' wind fields over the ocean surface in
all weathers. It is now giving Europe's meteorologists an
enhanced ability to generate real-time nowcasts of the current
climate state as well as more reliable short-range weather
forecasts. An increase in the number of European and Canadian-
area acquisitions carried out by ERS-2, coupled with speedier
processing and delivery, means that meteorologists now receive
wind field products on their des