OHB Digital Connect develops AI application to improve the spatial resolution of weather data

Bremen, July 3, 2025. Nowadays, weather data largely comes from space. The most important European weather satellites are the geostationary Meteosat satellites, which are operated by the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).

From their orbit at an altitude of around 36,000 kilometers, geostationary satellites can capture the entirety of the side of the Earth facing them, but due to the great distance, the spatial resolution is rather low. For the first third-generation Meteosat satellite (MTG-I1), launched at the end of 2022, the spatial resolution is one kilometer in the optical and two kilometers in the thermal infrared range. While this is sufficient to reliably predict the development of large-scale weather patterns over Europe, it is difficult to forecast extreme weather events occurring locally.

OHB Digital Connect is therefore currently working on behalf of EUMETSAT to improve the spatial resolution of the data provided by MTG-I1 using AI-supported super-resolution. This process involves combining multiple images to achieve greater detail. The resulting images will be incorporated into the climate models of the Belgian weather service and the weather models of Swiss company Meteologix AG (part of the Kachelmann Group).

DestinE: Earth's Digital Twin

The project, which is called “AI/ML Application Demonstrator Using DestinE: Enhancement of Lower Resolution Products”, is part of the Destination Earth (DestinE) initiative, which is being carried out jointly by the European Commission, the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the European Space Agency (ESA) and EUMETSAT. DestinE aims to create a highly-accurate digital model of the Earth by 2030. This digital twin will then be used to monitor the effects of natural events and human activities on the Earth system, predict extreme weather events and develop strategies to overcome climate-related challenges.

“AI-supported image data processing is an important component of our downstream activities,” explains Arne Gausepohl, Head of OHB DIGITAL. “With it, we are making information accessible that provides a wide range of users with the basis for well-founded decisions.”

Transfer of new technologies into practical application

“This project is a prime example of how technologies that were originally developed in research and development projects can be successfully transferred to practical applications,” adds Project Manager Daro Krummrich. “In the context of climate change and extreme weather events, it's crucial that scientific innovations are quickly and purposefully integrated into operational systems.”

The AI/ML model created during the project will be open source and made available to the DestinE community and any other interested parties.