First images are live from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Meteosat Third Generation-Sounder satellite’s sounder, which aims to bring Earth observations into a new era with at least one new data type to improve weather forecasts of severe storms.
The mission, also known as MTG-S, includes an infrared sounder to take hyperspectral soundings of the atmosphere. The agency stated that it is “the first European hyperspectral sounding instrument in geostationary orbit.”
The sounder’s data product, said to be “completely new,” will analyze the patterns in light waves as an interferometer to measure temperature, humidity, wind and trace gases. In future the agency plans to produce 3D maps of the atmosphere with this data to assist with forecasting, particular for fast-moving storms.
“We expect data from this mission to change the way we forecast severe storms over Europe – and this is very exciting for communities and citizens, as well as for meteorologists and climatologists,” said Simonetta Cheli, ESA’s director of EO (Earth Observation) programs, in the same statement.
MTG-S also has an ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared imaging spectrometer for the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission, which delivered its first images last year.
MTG-S was launched July 1, 2025. It follows on from an imager, MTG-I, which launched in December 2022; a second imager is expected to launch sometime in 2026. MTG-S is a collaboration between several entities. Thales Alenia Space is the prime contractor for the overall MTG mission, and OHB Systems is responsible for MTG-S. Eumetsat manages mission control and data distribution.
Benefits for Canada
Canada is an associate member of ESA and recently contributed €407.7 million (~ CAD $664.6 million) to ESA’s record budget of €22.3 billion (~CAD $36 billion) for the next three years, with the first year of the cycle being €8.26 billion (~CAD $13.34 billion).
In recent remarks about the budget delivered last month, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said Canada’s increase in funding (announced in November at the Space Canada SpaceBound conference) is “four times as much” and a “very significant commitment.”
CSA will receive more access to ESA programs as a result of the commitment, which could mean more access as well to MTG. While Canada does have its own EO satellites, most especially the RADARSAT 2 and RADARSAT Constellation Mission synthetic aperture radar, MTG’s capabilities allow for different wavelength observations to complement or enhance possible collaborations with RADARSAT.
The first images
The images showed Earth’s full disc from orbit at geostationary altitude, roughly 36,000 km above our planet, as taken on Nov. 15, 2025. Some of the highlights include:
- A “temperature” image that scrutinized the surface in the infrared, showing the warmest (dark red) areas in parts of Africa and South America. Cooler (blue) areas are often found on the cloudtops.
- “Humidity” images taken in the medium-wave infrared, with blue colours representing high humidity (such as high and low latitudes, or the east of Africa, in the global map) and red colours representing low humidity (the Sahara Desert and the Middle East).
- “Temperature” images taken in the wake of Ethiopia’s Hayli Gubbi volcano erupting on Nov. 23. “The background imagery shows surface temperature changes while infrared channels highlight the developing ash plume,” ESA stated. “The satellite’s timely observations enable tracking of the evolving ash plume over time.”
ESA also provided this animation which “uses data from the MTG-Sounder satellite’s Infrared Sounder instrument. It tracks the eruption of Ethiopia’s Hayli Gubbi volcano on 23 November 2025.
The background imagery shows surface temperature changes while infrared channels highlight the developing ash plume. The satellite’s timely observations enable tracking of the evolving ash plume over time.”
