All MetOp-SG  satellites  use  a  sun-synchronous low earth orbit with a mean altitude of 817 km with a descending node crossing of 09:30 AM mean local solar time for the MetOp-SG A satellites. In a sun-synchronous orbit, the surface is illuminated at roughly the same sun angle each time the satellite passes overhead.

A high inclination orbit (approximately 98.7°) is used. The orbit inclination is the angular distance of the orbital plane from the equator.

The orbital cycle is 29 days (14 orbits per day, 412 orbits per cycle). The orbit cycle is the time taken for the satellite to return over the same geographical point on the ground with the same viewing geometry.