The overall mission objectives of the POES system is to provide continuous daily global observations of weather patterns and environmental measurements of the Earth's atmosphere, its surface and cloud cover, and the proton and electron flux at satellite altitude. To fulfill these mission objectives, the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has operated the current POES system since 1978, with a two satellite constellation in circular, near-polar, sun synchronous morning (730) and afternoon (1330) orbits. However, the POES program is undergoing a transformation. One major component of the new POES system is the Initial Joint Polar System (IJPS). IJPS will be implemented as a tool for sharing polar satellite assets between the US and Europe.

IJPS is a cooperative effort between the United States and the Europeans to share responsibility for polar satellite operations and derived products. The details of IJPS can be found in The Agreement Between the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites on an Initial Polar-orbiting Operational Satellite System, signed in November 1998. IJPS will be supported by US satellites, NOAA-N and -N', in the afternoon orbit and European satellites, MetOp-1 and -2, in the mid-morning orbit. As part of the IJPS agreement, NOAA and EUMETSAT are required to support each other's operational satellite through their respective ground segments for commanding, receiving telemetry and global data, monitoring their respective on-orbit status, and exchanging data between the two polar satellite systems. In order to meet the requirements of IJPS, the NOAA Polar Ground System is undergoing numerous changes. This paper will provide an overview of several elements of IJPS with a focus on the changes to and the benefits of IJPS on the NOAA Polar Ground System.