ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Meteorology, Media, and Nation-Building: Satellite Data in 1980s Catalonia

• In Event: Shifting Narratives in Space Science and Technology (2)

English Abstract

In the years following the Francoist regime (1939–1975), during Spain’s Transition to democracy, a process of restoring regional self-government began, particularly in territories with national aspirations and historical conflict with the central state, such as Catalonia. This led to the restoration of the Catalan institutions in the cultural, social, and scientific spheres. Two of the sectors that experienced this process were meteorology and the media, the latter with the Catalan public television channel TV3 playing a central role.
The 1980s were a decade in which weather forecasting was strongly shaped by the use of satellite data. In this context, TV3 distanced itself from the Spanish Meteorological Institute (INM), among other things by purchasing its own Meteosat satellite data receiver, thus becoming the second organization in the whole State to receive satellite data by antenna. The work of TV3’s Meteorological Service, together with the University of Barcelona, among other actors, was key to the creation of the Meteorological Service of Catalonia in 1996.
In this case study, how competences in meteorology were important for nation building will be studied, as well as the influence that satellite data had in these processes: What did it mean for the actors to build the nation through meteorology practises? And how satellite data antennas, products and circulation played a role in these practices? In TV3, the University of Barcelona, and other structures that later served for the new Meteorological Service of Catalonia: what kinds of expertise did they need and wish to strengthen in order to work with satellite data? With which other actors did they share data? On what infrastructure did they rely? What role did amateur users of satellite data play on institutional actors? What influence did these elements eventually have on the activities of the new Meteorological Service of Catalonia?
Through this history of technological uses, a case of scientific nationalism in a stateless nation will be investigated, also examining to what extent and in which aspects it differed from the Spanish national meteorological project. The aim will be to address the question of what role did satellite technology play in the construction of the Catalan meteorology national service and thus the Catalan national project itself.

Author

• Anna Drou-Roget, Institut d'Història de la Ciència (IHC)