A new meteorological satellite, Fengyun-2 C, was successfully launched at 9:20 am on Oct. 19 in Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China's southwest province of Sichuan.
The biggest improvement of the new satellite over the previous ones in the FY2 series is its scan radiometer, which has been developed by the CAS Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics. After five years hard work and hundreds of tests, two more channels are added to the former three-channel system with upgraded temperature resolution of the infrared band and better signal to noise ratios of the visible band. In addition to providing infrared and vapor cloud images, the new radiometer enables the satellite to observe forest and prairie fires, foggy weather and sandstorms.
The Fengyun-2 (or FY-2, meaning "winds and clouds" in Chinese) is a geostationary meteorological satellite series of China. China started its FY2 development program in 1980 and has sent two experimental models of FY2 series in 1997 and 2000 respectively. The FY-2 C is China's first professional one in the series.
