Prospects of HEO missions highlighted by ArcticToday

ArcticToday published on 5 June an interview of Juhani Damski (Director General of FMI) and Jouni Pulliainen (Director of FMI Space). The topic was the future prospects of space-borne monitoring of the Arctic for meteorology and climate research. FMI outlined the current serious gaps, especially in comparison to southern latitudes where geosynchronous satellites provide a continuous imaging data stream. The solution to improve the situation would be the development of High Elliptic Orbit (HEO) missions that would enable by two satellites a continuous monitoring of Arctic processes. This is also a recommendation of Finland in its chairmanship program of the Arctic Council. The interview is linked to a seminar organised by the Wilson Center in Washington D.C.  on 29 May concerning the Meteorological Chairmanship Program of Finland and its relation to U.S. activities (co-operative effort of the Wilson Center, FMI and the Foreign Ministry of Finland).