The Satellite Application Facility for Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP SAF) aims to improve and support the interface between satellite data/products and European activities in NWP.
The NWP SAF is one of several EUMETSAT SAFs (Satellite Application Facilities). Utilising specialist expertise from the Member States, SAFs are dedicated centres of excellence for processing satellite data and form an integral part of the distributed EUMETSAT Application Ground Segment. Further information about SAFs is available on the EUMETSAT web site.
The SAF for NWP interacts, where appropriate, with related work in other SAFs and in other EUMETSAT activities in order to enhance collaboration and to minimise duplication of effort.
Recent News and Updates
- CATDS v4 has been released - June 5, 2026
Version 4 of the Cloud, Aerosol and Trace gas detection software (CATDS) has been released by the NWP-SAF. This package is used to identify channels in hyperspectral infrared spectra which are affected by atmospheric features that cannot be simulated accurately in a clear-sky assimilation framework for numerical weather prediction (NWP). This latest version includes a new neural-network emulator of the cloud and aerosol capability for IASI, which requires only observations as input (i.e. no model information). Also, cloud detection for CrIS is possibly in the absence of a long-wave infrared band (such as for S-NPP). Finally, the numerical precision of […] - AAPP-SG v1.0.0 has been released - June 2, 2026
A new package AAPP-SG has been released. It processes level 1 data from the MWS and IASI-NG instruments on the Metop-SG-A satellite series. Its functions include netCDF ingest, BUFR ingest, spatial filtering, spectral manipulations and BUFR output. It can be used with direct broadcast data or global/regional data. For more information, see the AAPP-SG web page. - NRT availability monitoring update - May 19, 2026
The NRT coverage and timeliness monitoring has been extended to now also include data from the MWR instrument on the Arctic Weather Satellite AWS and the lightning imager LI on MTG, based on the data reception monitoring at DWD. The new data have been included in the data status overviews: NRT availability status. Plots of data coverage as well as data delay information in the form of time series, PDF’s of data timeliness and geographical plots of data timeliness are accessible via the following link: NRT availability. - Direct broadcast (DB) software packages for Metop-SG-A1 MWS and METimage - May 1, 2026
The NWP SAF has released the direct broadcast (DB) software packages for Metop-SG-A1 MWS and METimage. This allows users with a compatible DB reception system to process the raw data up to level 1B. The software packages have been procured from Industry by EUMETSAT, with the NWP SAF responsible for testing, release and user support. For details, please see the Metop-SG direct broadcast web page. - New NWP SAF Report Released: AWS Radiance Data Quality Assessment - April 29, 2026
NWP SAF has released a new technical report assessing the radiance data quality from the Arctic Weather Satellite (AWS) microwave radiometer. The study evaluates AWS observations from an NWP perspective, using independent monitoring at the Met Office and DWD with RTTOV-simulated equivalents. Results show stable radiance behaviour, well-characterised scan-angle biases, and instrument noise levels suitable for operational data assimilation. The new 325 GHz sub-millimetre channels demonstrate strong sensitivity to ice cloud scattering, offering promising capabilities for all-sky assimilation. Data availability and timeliness via EUMETCast are shown to be excellent, meeting global NWP requirements. An initial assimilation trial at the Met Office […]