Eumetsat, the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, moved fast to support a new Tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean. It announced that it has made its Meteosat-5 satellite, which flies above the Indian Ocean, available for use in a new Tsunami warning system.

The University of Hawaii will be the first user of the new Meteosat-5 service. It will collect, process and disseminate data that can be used in a warning system. All current users of the satellite will have access to the new service as well.

Lars Prahm, general director of Eumetsat, commented, “I am pleased that it has been possible to improve the Indian Ocean tsunami warning system only two months after the disaster and that Eumetsat’s operational satellite is contributing to the European effort to prevent and mitigate further disasters.”