Responsibilities of NSMC

The National Satellite Meteorological Center (NSMC) was founded in 1971. It is one of the operational centers of China Meteorological Administration and is tasked to support nation-wide weather forecasts, climate research, and natural disaster monitoring with space-based Earth Observation (EO) data and derived products.

The main responsibilities of NSMC are as follows:

• to make plan for China's meteorological satellite development; to define user requirements for the meteorological satellite system;
• to operate the meteorological satellite system; to receive, process, archive and disseminate satellite data to end users;
• to provide information service based on meteorological satellite data for weather forecast, climate prediction, the earth environment monitoring, and space weather monitoring and warning;
• to promote nation-wide utilization of meteorological satellite data based on research on algorithms and development of products;
• to provide user with technical guidance on meteorological satellite remote sensing;
• entrusted by China Meteorological Administration, to exercise supervision and management for the implementation of satellite engineering project contracts.

To fulfill the responsibilities, NSMC operates a number of equipments to receive, process and disseminate the meteorological satellite data. There are about 400 people working for NSMC, who are engaged in system operation and maintenance, conducting research for new system establishment and application, and satellite remote sensing information service.