Weather satellites

Geostationary satellites

Weather geostationary satellites are operated by EUMETSAT (Meteosat), the USA (GOES), Japan (Himawari), South Korea (GEO-KOMPSAT), China (FY-2, FY-4), Russia (Elektro–L) and India (INSAT). They orbit in the earth's equatorial plane at a height of 38,500 km. At this height, the speed of the satellite is the same as the earth's rotation, and the satellite appears to be stationary over a certain point on the equator. This orbit allows the satellite to continually observe the same area: 42% of the earth's surface. To get global coverage you need a network of 5-6 satellites. These satellites, however, do not see the poles at all.

Meteosat

GOES

Himawari

GEO-KOMPSAT-2A

FY-2

FY-4

Elektro-L

INSAT