AB STRACTThe Tai wan/US FORMOSAT-3/COS MIC (FORMOsa SAT el lite mis sion -3/Con stel la tion Ob serv ing Sys tem for Me te o rol ogy, Ion o sphere and Cli mate) sat el lite con stel la tion was suc cess fully launched on 14 April 2006. It is ex pected to le ver age the use of the GPS (Global Po si tion ing Sys tem) ra dio occultation data for at mo spheric and ion o spheric re search to im prove global weather fore casts and aid cli mate change re lated stud ies. FORMOSAT-3/COS MIC, to gether with the Eu ro pean MetOp, Ger man CHAMP and US/Ger man GRACE-A sat el lites, form a 9 sat el lite con stel la tion for pre cise at mo spheric sound ing on a global scale. This sat el lite con stel la tion is expected to provide about 3500 occultation measurements daily.Re cent re sults and the sta tus of the CHAMP and GRACE-A or bit and occultation data anal y sis are re viewed and com ple mented with a re view of ini tial re sults from FORMOSAT-3/COS MIC at GFZ. The sig nif i cantly in creased po ten tial of the CHAMP, GRACE-A and FORMOSAT-3/COS MIC con stel la tion for at mo spheric stud ies, com pared to sin gle sat el lite mis sions, is dem on strated for se lected ap pli ca tions such as global mon i tor ing of wa ter va por dis tri bu tions, tropo pause parameters and ionospheric irregularities.

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Abstract. This paper describes the Radio Occultation Processing Package, ROPP, a product of the EUMETSAT Radio Occultation Meteorology Satellite Application Facility (ROM SAF) developed by a large number of scientists over many years. A brief review of the concepts, functionality and structure of ROPP is followed by more detailed descriptions of its key capabilities. Example results from a full chain of processing using some of the ROPP tools are presented. Some current and prospective uses of ROPP are given. Instructions on how to access the code and its supporting documentation are provided.

Abstract. This paper describes the Radio Occultation Processing Package, ROPP, a product of the EUMETSAT Radio Occultation Meteorology Satellite Application Facility (ROM SAF) developed by a large number of scientists over many years. A brief review of the concepts, functionality and structure of ROPP is followed by more detailed descriptions of its key capabilities. Example results from a full chain of processing using some of the ROPP tools are presented. Some current and prospective uses of ROPP are given. Instructions on how to access the code and its supporting documentation are provided.