Prof. XU Jianmin of China is honored for pioneering satellite systems
WMO has announced that its top honour, the IMO Prize, will be awarded to Prof. XU Jianmin of China, one of the founders of China’s meteorological satellite system construction, and a leader in satellite data application and services.
WMO’s Executive Council made the decision during its annual session in Geneva. Prof. XU will collect the award – the equivalent of the Nobel prize to the WMO community - at the 2026 Executive Council meeting.
The International Meteorological Organization (IMO) Prize is named after WMO’s predecessor organization. It recognizes outstanding work in meteorology and hydrology and contributions to international collaboration.
Prof Xu has been an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering since 1997. He was previously director-general of the China Meteorological Administration’s National Satellite Meteorological Center and deputy director-general of its National Meteorological Center.
Prof. XU designed the basic structure of the Chinese FY Meteorological Satellite Ground System, solving the key problems in FY satellite navigation. He also promoted the development of core technology for satellite-related products, and the application of FY satellite products to global observation, forecasting and services.
Prof. XU has published more than 50 papers. He has won the first and second prizes of National Science and Technology Progress Award, and the 9th Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award.
Chinese FY meteorological satellite ground system
Prof. XU put forward the general plan for the development of Chinese FY meteorological satellites in the early stage of their development (1986-1996).
He was in charge of the design and construction of the ground system segment, and led the development of core technologies which contributed to the successful launch and application of China’s first polar-orbiting (FY-1) and first geostationary (FY-2) satellites.
These have made high-quality continuous observation for more than ten years at two nominal positions of 105ºE (99ºE) and 86.5ºE (79ºE) in longitude.
Since 2005 when FY-2C satellite was put into operation, this serial has registered a success rate of over 99.5% for the whole system.
Regional and global collaboration
Guided by the overall design concept of Prof. XU, the FY Polar-Orbiting Satellite program was successfully upgraded from the first generation (FY-1) to the second generation (FY-3), which improved its capability in quantitative application.
At present, the data observed by FY-3 has been used in most global Numerical Weather Prediction models. FY satellites have made a positive contribution towards improving the accuracy of global weather forecasting in these services.
Prof. XU organized the development and distribution of quantitative products from FY satellites. He was engaged in the research on data preprocessing, derivation and application of quantitative products.
This output has been highly spoken of by the CGMS (Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites.
With Prof. XU’s forward-looking design concepts of the ground system, FY geostationary satellites can provide frequent observations of West Asia, East Africa, and the Indian Ocean, and have been able to fill the gap in the operational geostationary satellites observation network in the Indian Ocean.
FY-3E, the world’s first civilian, operational weather satellite in Early-Morning orbit has been launched in 2021, it will fill a critical gap in the space-based observing system, and provide irreplaceable unique observations for global numerical forecasting models.
Under the Emergency Support Mechanism of FENGYUN Satellites (FY ESM) launched by CMA in 2018, FY satellites have been activated 18 times and served as onduty satellites for extreme meteorological or environmental events.
In 2019 when the strong tropical cyclones Idai and Kenneth hit Mozambique and neighbouring East African solutions, CMA activated FY-ESM. Satellites including FY-2H and FY-3 were used to continuously monitor and forecast the cyclones. Services and products are timely provided in terms of changing tracks and intensities and the effects of associated wind and rain.
The IMO Prize reflects the Organization’s commitment to scientific excellence and international collaboration. The award typically includes a gold medal, a parchment scroll, and a monetary grant, and is presented annually by the WMO Executive Council.
Prof. Gerhard Adrian of Germany – named in 2024 – collected his IMO Prize at a ceremony on 19 June.
