Eumetsat, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, has signed an agreement with CNES, the French space agency, concerning the European contribution to the Jason-2 Program, an Earth observation mission planned for launch in 2008.

This agreement outlines the responsibilities of the two agencies with regards to the main provisions related to the OSTM agreement and follows the signing of a four-party agreement in May among the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, CNES and Eumetsat.

The agreements are intended to help foster better monitoring of global oceans and create new opportunities for monitoring ocean phenomena, develop models to predict ocean circulation and the global change, paving the way for an ongoing development of operational oceanography.