Weather satellites provide a wide variety of information to meteorologists, including images of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere. These measurements are crucial for weather forecasting and climate monitoring.
There are two main types of environmental satellites: geostationary and polar orbiting. Both fly in different orbits and provide a range of data for meteorologists.
Weather Conditions
Weather satellites are a crucial part of the National Weather Service’s forecasting operations. They provide a global view of the weather that complements ground-based systems such as radiosondes, weather radars, and surface observing stations.
There are two basic types of weather satellites: those in geostationary orbit and those in polar orbit. The first type orbits at a high altitude, around 35,800 km, and is designed to monitor the same region all the time.
These satellites provide a variety of images of the Earth that are looped together in real-time to create a graphical representation of what they see. This is often a highly useful tool for short-term forecasting, or nowcasting, of severe weather.
In addition to visible imagery, satellites also measure water vapor and other atmospheric conditions that are important for predicting precipitation. In particular, they are helpful for determining where heavy rain is possible and when thunderstorms will occur.
Water vapor images are especially useful during summer when moisture from the tropical oceans can be blown down into the atmosphere. The white areas in water vapor images are the locations where the highest levels of moisture are present. The black areas are the locations where there is no moisture at all.
Visible satellite pictures are also useful for detecting snow-covered areas, since the ground appears grey while a snowy area will appear white. These images are not as accurate during the winter when snow covers the land and makes it more difficult to distinguish between clouds and ground.
Another important function of a satellite is to measure wind speed and direction using a device called a scatterometer. The data from a scatterometer is then processed to derive information about wind direction and speed.
The data is then sent to a receiving station on the ground. The receiving station, which consists of many computer terminals, uses the data to calculate wind speed and direction.
There are several different kinds of weather satellites that operate worldwide. Each one is unique and has its own set of operating features. But most of the instruments on a weather satellite are similar in function.
Weather Predictions
Weather satellites take images of the Earth and the sky from a distance of several hundred to thousands of miles above the surface. Their vantage point provides meteorologists with a more detailed look at weather systems than surface-based instruments do, and helps them spot warnings hours to days in advance.
Satellites orbit the Earth at different altitudes, with two major types – geostationary and polar-orbiting – each observing different sections of the planet’s surface. These weather satellites are used to monitor the climate and provide forecasters with critical information about the atmosphere, oceans, land and vegetation.
Observations from satellites are fed into numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, which use these data to predict the weather. They also provide meteorologists with images of weather phenomena that they can rely on to monitor storms, identify volcanic ash and smoke from wildfires, and track hurricane development.
Imagery from satellites is processed and synthesised into products that forecasters can view in their computer displays known as Advanced Weather Interactive Processing Systems (AWIPS). The next generation of weather satellites, such as NOAA’s GOES-16 series and NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System, will have dramatic increases in image resolution, refresh rates and spectral coverage, making it even more important to be able to easily synthesize and interpret the imagery they produce for rapid analysis.
Another important application of satellite information is the collection of imagery to enhance forecasts for aviation weather in northern latitudes, particularly for Alaska and the heavily traveled north Pacific commercial air routes. The US National Weather Service (NWS) has already taken advantage of a second polar-orbiting environmental satellite, POES, to improve its weather predictions for aircraft traffic in the region.
The data collected by these satellites are vital to improving forecasts because they measure atmospheric conditions that are necessary for accurate modeling. These include water vapor, cloud cover and temperature.
These measurements are critical to weather forecasters because they enable them to accurately predict storms, tornadoes and other severe weather events. Additionally, these observations help meteorologists keep the public safe during unforeseen weather events.
In addition to imaging, weather satellites use sophisticated sensors that monitor reflected light from the Earth’s surface and measure infrared temperatures to help detect fires, clouds and other weather-related issues. These instruments have dramatically improved the accuracy of weather forecasts and helped create a more weather-resilient nation.
Hurricanes
Hurricanes are the most powerful storms on Earth, causing devastating damage and killing thousands of people each year. But they’re also difficult to predict.
As a result, scientists are constantly looking for new ways to monitor tropical cyclones and improve their forecasts. Solutions range from aircraft and satellites to drones, all of which provide valuable data.
A satellite’s view of a hurricane can reveal important details, such as its shape and wind shear, which is the amount of air movement that causes changes in speed or direction with height. These factors are critical to assessing the intensity of a storm, which in turn affects where it will make landfall.
The newest generation of weather satellites, such as GOES, can track tropical cyclones as they move over the Atlantic Ocean. They can also see rainfall inside a hurricane, providing 3D views that help forecasters create more accurate models for future storms.
Other technology is aimed at measuring hurricane intensity and tracking their path, a goal that could save lives by giving communities more information about where these storms will strike. The Cyclone Intensity Measurements from the ISS (CyMISS) project, led by Visidyne and the International Space Station National Lab, seeks to provide such measurements in space.
These measurements could also improve hurricane forecasts, which are often based on a model that hasn’t been developed to account for these differences. The CYMISS team is working with a company that wants to deploy microsatellites, which would collect hurricane data in space about every 90 minutes.
But these types of systems are still expensive and difficult to deploy. This is why TWAI aims to build more cost-effective satellites that can capture data in space continuously, rather than sending microsatellites into storms to collect data for a short period of time.
Until now, meteorologists have relied on airplanes to monitor hurricanes. This method works well in sparsely populated areas such as Florida, but can be hard to do in densely populated cities like Miami.
To solve these problems, NASA launched a microsatellite system called the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System. The system, which is now re-upping its funding through 2023, analyzes the interaction of water and air near the center of storm systems to bolster predictions on how severe hurricanes are. This helps scientists better understand the impact of climate change on hurricanes.
Clouds
The satellite of weather captures a lot of information about the clouds on earth. This includes information about how much water vapor is present in the atmosphere, the temperatures of cloud tops and even the color of the clouds.
Aside from visible imagery, satellites also take infrared (IR) images that display the objects based on their temperature. IR imagery can be used to determine the thickness of cloud tops and whether or not they are producing rain.
There are two basic types of weather satellites: geostationary and polar orbiting. The former are primarily high altitude (above the equator) and can take images of clouds from a long distance.
For example, the ATS-1 satellite produced images every 20 minutes and allowed meteorologists to see large scale weather features. Moreover, it was the first weather satellite to use a spin scan cloud camera that was able to record cloud motions.
This type of image can be very useful in determining the strength of thunderstorms and where they are moving. It can also be used to monitor sea-surface temperatures.
Observers can look at the satellite’s data and compare it to their own observations, enabling them to determine the intensity of stormy weather and where they are coming from. They can even make animations to show how the cloud formation and movement changes over time.
The satellite of weather can also capture visible imagery, which shows the amount of sunlight reflected by the earth. This is called the surface albedo and ranges from about 10-30%, with snow covering land absorbing more.
Visible satellite imagery can be very helpful for meteorologists when the sky is bright and solar radiation is strong. This allows them to identify the cloud tops and snow cover.
However, visible imagery can be difficult to interpret at night and in poor visibility conditions. Infrared images can be helpful for identifying cloud-free land and water, but they are less useful at night when the sun is not directly overhead.
A colorized infrared image is another useful tool for meteorologists to use. Gray is relatively warm, blues cooler and red indicates the coldest, tallest clouds that are most likely to produce rain.