By:
Nana Appiah Acquaye
The
African Meteorological Satellite Application Facility (AMSAF) has been
officially launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, marking a major step toward
improving weather forecasting and early warning systems across the continent
using next-generation satellite data.
The
initiative, launched on 18 May 2026, brings together partners including the
African Union Commission, the European Union, EUMETSAT, the European Centre for
Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the World Meteorological Organization
(WMO), the Kenya Meteorological Service Authority, and technical consortium
members led by the Finnish Meteorological Institute, alongside AEMET, the
University of Leeds, and Meteo Maroc.
AMSAF
is designed to enhance nowcasting capabilities, enabling national
meteorological and hydrological services across Africa to generate more
accurate short-term weather forecasts covering the 0–6 hour window. The system
is expected to improve preparedness for extreme weather events such as storms,
floods, and tornadoes, which have increasingly caused widespread damage,
displacement, and loss of life across the continent.
According
to EUMETSAT Director-General Phil Evans, the initiative represents a
significant step toward enabling African countries to take greater ownership of
their weather forecasting systems while strengthening resilience to
climate-related hazards.
The
facility will establish a network of regional nowcasting centres serving
Western, Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa, with contributions from the
African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) in Niger.
These centres will utilize data from Meteosat Third Generation satellites to
generate localized weather products for national decision-making.
The
programme will operate through local and cloud-based processing infrastructure
supported by capacity-building initiatives aimed at strengthening technical
expertise across participating countries.
AMSAF
has been established under the African Union Commission as part of the
EU-funded Strengthening Early Warning in Africa project, which supports the
United Nations Early Warnings for All initiative and the African Union’s
AMHEWAS framework for multi-hazard early warning systems.
As
part of the rollout, EUMETSAT is expanding access to Meteosat Third Generation
data across Africa through increased bandwidth on its EUMETCast-Africa
dissemination system, enhancing data availability for meteorological services
and forecasting centres.
The
initiative is expected to significantly improve early warning capabilities and
support more timely decision-making in response to climate and weather-related
risks across the continent.
