CoE Republic of Korea is located within the NMSC (National Meteorological Satellite Center).
The NMSC is GK2A(Geo-KOMPSAT-2A) meteorological satellite after COMS(Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite) operating, training and research organization of the KMA (Korea Meteorological Administration), established in 2009.
The NMSC has become a member of the WMO CGMS Virtual Laboratory (VLab) Centre of Excellence (CoE) in satellite meteorology in 2010, with the successful launch and operations of COMS. Then the Meteorological Human Resources Development Institute (MHRDI) of the KMA was also designated as a WMO Regional Training Centre in 2015.
The NMSC is the only geostationary meteorological satellite operator in Republic of Korea providing national higher education and training focused on the effective use of data and products from meteorological and environmental satellites.
The mission of NMSC is to support prompt, more accurate and valuable weather, climate and environmental services by enabling KMA staff members or private decision makers to utilize our own stable satellite data, reliable products and other meteorological data for the safety of Korea and its economy.
The NMSC also aims to contribute to a global partnership with satellite operators and space program coordination groups by sharing our GK2A data and providing satellite knowledge and skills to the developing countries in RA II region.
The GK2A is the new generation geostationary meteorological satellite (located in 128.2°E) of the KMA. The main mission of the GK2A is to observe the atmospheric phenomena over the Asia-Pacific region. The Advance Meteorological Imager (AMI) on GK2A scan the Earth full disk every 10 minutes and the Korean Peninsula area every 2 minutes with a high spatial resolution of 4 visible channels and 12 infrared channels. In addition, the AMI has an ability of flexible target area scanning useful for monitoring severe weather events such as typhoon and volcanic eruption and so on. And for space weather mission, the Korea Space wEather Monitor (KSEM) on the GK2A observes the space environment with the particle detector, magnetometer and charging monitor.
VLab CoE Korea
Education and Training
The NMSC, as the CoE-Korea, has commenced annual international training courses since 2007 through the support of KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) to contribute to the global society by sharing satellite knowledge and skills with developing countries in the Asian-Pacific Region.
Since 2007 NMSC/KMA has supported Sri Lanka, Philippines, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Laos, and etc. respectively by establishing the COMS and GK2A data receiving and analysis system as well as its facilities for the ground station. KMA is running a international training course on “Analysis and Application of GEO-KOMPSAT-2A data” for meteorologists or government employees in RA II and RA V regions.
The NMSC, as the CoE-Korea, has also commenced its participation in the monthly online RFG meeting organized by the CoE-Australia since 2015. NMSC is held jointly with CoE-Australia under the bilateral cooperation between KMA and BoM, RFG meeting 1~2 times in every year for RA II and RA V regions to share KMA’s knowledge, experience, methods and tools related to satellite data.
Contact Information
Byoung Cheol KIM
Director of Satellite Analysis Division Of National Meteorological Satellite Center (NMSC) of KMA
Dr. Geun-Hyeok Ryu
Responsible for VLab in KMA