Weather satellites

With reduced sensor cost the range of applications now includes thermal vision (2,3) industrial processing, industrial security, police work (3), maritime safety, airline safety and vision enhancement for night driving and flying and weather satellites. For these applications, the thermal sensor typically uses a broad spectral band to achieve highest sensitivity. 

Data from unmanned weather balloons and weather satellites,... 

Not all assessments of the present state of climate theory are optimistic. An extensive discussion on the global warming paradigm was organized at the conference in London on January 27, 2005 at the Hadley Center where various points of view were considered. Some climate scientists insist, unlike others, that human activity and climate change are directly linked. Professor Fred Singer, former director of the U.S. Weather Satellite Service, told the BBC ... 

From the series of daily Warnemunde air temperatures (1947-2005) result corresponding trends for the summer (JAS) and winter (JFM) to be even 1.7°C/100 year and 4.3 C/1 ()() year. By using National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather satellite data (1990-2004), Siegel et al. (2006) reported the comparable overall trend of about 5°C/ 100 year in the sea surface temperature off Arkona. All these trends are modulated by significant interannual fluctuations, as shown in Fig 5.7. Moreover, such local trends vary... 

This chapter summarizes investigations on satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) of the Baltic Sea for the period 1990-2005. The sea surface temperature derived from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather satellites were used in the Baltic Sea research for the investigation of the temperature development, for detailed process studies, and monitoring purposes. 

This investigation is based on data of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer operated on the weather satellite series of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States of America. The first instrument was launched in 1978. Three versions of the multichannel scanning radiometer were operated at 13 satellites and measured in 5-6 channels in the visible, near-infrared and thermal infrared spectral range, as defined in Table 9.1. 

Some people thought that when weather satellites were deployed, weather balloons would become... 

Systems engineers familiar with the weather satellites currently in orbit began to analyze methods by which these existing satellites might be made to meet the new requirement, even though they had not been designed to do so initially. They... 

Satellites are objects placed into the Earth s orbit by humans. The first satellite was Sputnik 1. It was laimched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. Since that time, thousands of satellites have been sent into orbit for a variety of apphcations. These uses include communications, reconnaissance, navigation, and weather tracking and forecasting, some of which is military in nature and interest. Figure 12-23 shows a U.S. Air Force weather satellite. 

The study of the physical characteristics of the atmosphere falls within the purview of atmospheric scientists. Those interested in a career in this technical area should recognize that there are several categories of specialization. The major group of specialists are operational meteorologists, who are responsible for weather forecasts. They have to carefully study the temperature, humidity, wind speed, and barometric pressure from a number of weather stations to make daily and long-range forecasts. They use data from weather satellites, radar, special sensors, and observation stations in other locations to make forecasts. 

Japan s Hayabusa. The Boeing Satellite Development Genter bills itself as the world s leading manufacturer of commercial communications satellites, a major supplier of spacecraft and equipment, and as the supplier for weather satellites for the United States and Japan. 

Private Commercial Operations. A number of private companies are involved in the development and production of instruments used for meteorological data gathering. The instruments range from simple devices to sophisticated electronic equipment, complete with software. The development of new weather satellites requires instruments that can be used by and can make the most of the gathered information. 

With the use of rockets, space exploitation became possible, leading to a flurry of interplanetary space missions by robotic spacecraft in the 1960 s and 1970 s, followed by much larger and more capable robotic spacecraft. In the 1960 s, the first communication and weather satellites paved the way for the communication, navigation, and Earth-monitoring satellites that have become mainstays of modern society. Manned exploration of space began with simple capsules on top of converted missiles, evolved to more sophisticated craft that carried Apollo astronauts to the Moon, and then to reusable spacecraft such as the space shuttle. Manned space stations evolved from simple single-mission systems launched by the Soviet Union in the 1970 s to the International Space Station, constructed during the first decade of the twenty-first century. Even telescopes took to space, with a number of astronomical satellites. 

The exploitation of space provides usefiil services for the inhabitants of Earth. Modem society relies very heavily on rapid communication and the transmittal of a vast amount of data across far distances on a regular basis. Satellite communication fecilitates this need, and many common everyday activities, such as credit or debit card purchases or ATM withdrawals, use this technology. GPS navigation has become very common and probably will become even more common, as more and more automobiles come equipped with GPS systems as a standard feature. Accurate weather and storm forecasts would be impossible without weather satellite data. 

The first weather satellite, the TIROS-1, was launched on April 1, 1960. The data from such satellites, combined with computer programs that use mathematics to help predict weather, have vastly improved weather forecasting. 

On December 11, 1998, NASA launched the 125-million-dollar Mars Climate Orbiter, which was intended to be the Red Planet s first weather satellite. After a 416-miIIion-mile (mi) journey, the spacecraft was supposed to go into Mars s orbit on September 23, 1999. Instead, it entered Mars s atmosphere about 100 km (62 mi) lower than plaimed and was destroyed by heat. Mission controllers later determined that the spacecraft was lost because English measurement units were not converted to metric units in the navigation software. 

A radiometer is installed in the European weather satellite METEOSAT at a geostationary orbit of 36 000 km altitude over equatorial Africa imaging the Earth s surface with a resolution of 2.5 km in order to monitor weather conditions. The camera system with an aperture of 400 mm has to resist very large temperature fluctuations during the change from direct solar irradiation to the shadow of the Earth and must also operate for many years without maintenance. 

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