Progress of Fengyun Meteorological Satellites Since 2020
doi: 10.11728/cjss2022.04.yg14
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Abstract: China’s efforts to develop Fengyun meteorological satellites have made major strides over the past 50 years, with the polar and geostationary meteorological satellite series achieving continuously stable operation to persistently provide data and product services globally. By the end of 2021, 19 Chinese self-developed Fengyun meteorological satellites have been launched successfully. Seven of them are in operation at present, the data and products are widely applied to weather analysis, numerical weather forecasting and climate prediction, as well as environment and disaster monitoring. Since the last COSPAR report, FY-4B, the first new-generation operational geostationary satellite, and FY-3E, the first early-morning orbit satellite in China’s polar-orbiting meteorological satellite family have been launched in 2021. The characteristics of the two latest satellites and the instruments onboard are addressed in this report. The status of current Fengyun Satellites, product and data service and international cooperation and supporting activities has been introduced as well.
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Table 1. Instruments onboard FY-3E
No. Instruments Statues 1 Dual-frequency wind radar (WindRAD) New 2 Solar spectral irradiance monitor (SSIM) 3 Solar X-EUV Imagers (XEUVI) 4 MERSI-L Improved 5 MWTS-III 6 HIRAS-II 7 GNOS-II 8 SIM-II 9 SEM 10 Tri-IPM 11 MWHS-II Inherited Table 2. Instruments onboard FY-4B
No. Instruments Statues 1 Advanced Geostationary Radiation Imager (AGRI) Inherited 2 Geostationary Interferometric Infrared Sounder (GIIRS) Inherited 3 Geostationary High Speed Imager (GHI) New 4 Space Environment Package (SEP) Inherited Table 3. Current operational Fengyun LEO satellites (as of 1 May 2022)
Orbit type (Local time
of descending node/ascending node)Satellites currently in orbit Equatorial crossing
time (design specifications)Equatorial crossing
time (present)Launch date Status Main
instrumentsMorning orbit
(07:00–12:00 LT)/
(19:00–24:00 LT)FY-3C 10:00 LT 07:39 LT 23 Sept. 2013 Primary
operationVIRR(O)
MERSI(S)
IRAS(S)
MWRI(S)
MWTS-2(S)
MWHS-2(O)
TOU(O)
SIM(S)
ERM(O)
GNOS(O)
SEM(S)Afternoon orbit
(12:00–17:00 LT)/
(00:00–05:00 LT)FY-3D 14:00 LT 13:45 LT 15 Nov. 2017 Primary
operationMERSI-II(O)
HIRAS(O)
MWTS-II(O)
MWHS-II(O)
MWRI(O)
GAS(T)
GNOS(O)
WAI(O)
IPM(O)
SEM(O)Note (O) means the instruments working operationally, (T) means the instruments are working for testing, (S) means the instruments are shut down Table 4. Current operational Fengyun GEO satellites (as of 1 May 2022)
Satellites currently in orbit Location Launch date Status Main instruments FY-2G 99.5°E 31 Dec. 2014 Primary operation for full disk scan VISSR(O)
SEM(O)FY-4A 104.7°E 11 Dec. 2016 Primary operation for full disk scan AGRI(O)
GIIRS(O)
LMI(O)
SEP(O)FY-2H 79°E 5 Jun. 2018 Primary operation for full disk scan since
1 Jan. 2019VISSR(O)
SEM(O)Note (O) means the instruments working operationally, and (S) means the instruments are shut down Table 5. List of Fengyun satellite international disaster support cases in 2021
No. Date Country Disaster 1 28 Jan. 2021 Swaziland Tropical cyclone and flood 2 8 Feb. 2021 India Flash flood 3 23 Feb. 2021 Philippines Tropical cyclone and flood 4 7 Apr. 2021 Indonesia Flash flood 5 8 Apr. 2021 East Timor Tropical cyclone 6 13 Apr. 2021 St Vincent Volcano eruption 7 24 May 2021 Congo Volcano eruption 8 7 Jun. 2021 Sri Lanka Sea oil spill 9 7 Jun. 2021 Sri Lanka Flash flood 10 22 Jul. 2021 Russia Wildfire 11 29 Jul. 2021 Tunisia and Algeria Wildfire 12 9 Aug. 2021 Russia Flash flood 13 15 Aug. 2021 Russia Wildfire 14 9 Sept. 2021 Republic of Togo Flash flood 15 3 Oct. 2021 United Arab Emirates Tropical cyclone 16 4 Oct. 2021 Oman Tropical cyclone 17 13 Nov. 2021 Sri Lanka Flash flood 18 7 Dec. 2021 Indonesia Volcano eruption 19 9 Dec. 2021 Micronesia Flash flood -
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