Le bilan scientifique de la mission Megha-Tropiques après 8 ans dans l'espace

The Megha-Tropiques mission has been collecting observations of the water and energy cycle in the intertropical atmosphere since 2011. The use of these observations has demonstrated the relevance of its original orbit inclined over the Equator both for the precipitation estimates and for numerical weather prediction. The ongoing scientific exploration of the relationship between water vapor and clouds, the life cycle of tropical convective systems, and hydrometeorology has led to many advances that are briefly presented here. Many operational centres around the world are assimilating available mission data in real time thanks to recent advances in the interpretation of the 183 GHz measurement.