EUMETSAT's first MetOp satellite was launched in October 2006 to provide polar-orbiting data for meteorological applications. Data from the AMSU- A, MHS and HIRS instruments have been assimilated at the Met Office since January 2007. These instruments, combined with ATOVS data from the NOAA satellites, form the backbone of our satellite data assimilation system, consistently demonstrating significant forecast impact.

MetOp also carries new instrumentation: IASI, an infrared interferometer, provides detailed information for temperature and moisture sounding complementary to ATOVS. ASCAT, the advanced scatterometer, is capable of measuring ocean surface wind vectors without rain contamination. It is intended that these two new data types will be assimilated operationally at the Met Office from early 2008.

Results from impact trials will be given in this paper.