5. Weather Satellites and Remote Sensing



Environmental Change, Satellite Images of


This site provided by the Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS)Data Center, at the United States Geological Survey.


Global Temperatures, Satellite Derived


This site provided as part of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center's outreach, through Science @ NASA.

This paper, entited "Scientists Present 1998 Earth Temperature Trends," was presented at the 1999 meeting of American Meteorological Society.


Image Interpretation, Satellite


This site provided by the California Regional Weather Server, at San Francisco State University.

Includes information on GOES satellites and a summary of differences between visible and infra-red (IR) weather satellite images.


Image Interpretation Discussions , Satellite


This site provided by the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, located at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado.

It consists of links to interesting papers covering various topics in satellite interpretation (such as tornadic systems, tropical systems and volcanic ash/dust).

CIRA is a center for international cooperation in research and training, covering virtually all physical, economic and societal aspects of weather and climate. CIRA's principal interests include: applications of meteorological satellite imagery, air quality, visibility, mesoscale studies, forecasting, agricultural meteorology, cloud physics, and atmospheric model evaluation.


Imagery Basics, Satellite


This site provided by the California Regional Weather Server, at San Francisco State University.

Discusses some "mostly common-sense" properties of GOES Weather Satellite Images.



Imagery Interpretation, Infrared Satellite


This site provided by the WWW Weather Server at Ohio State University.

Offers a brief example of how to interpret "brightness" of imagery to cloud type (ie, "high clouds" vs. "low clouds").



Interpreting Satellite Imagery, Tutorial on


This site provided by the Department of Environmental Sciences at Texas A&M University.



ocean circulation studies, Satellites and


This site provided by the American Geophysical Union and its Reviews of Geophysics (1991-1994).

This paper, entitled "Application of satellite altimetry to ocean circulation studies: 1987-1994," discusses how global ocean circulations are monitored by means of satellites in order to understand the role of the oceans in global climate.


Polar-Orbiting Satellite, Tutorial on


Provided by NOAA's University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).

Includes:

  1. A comparison of GOES and POES

  2. Imagery Product Examples

  3. Capabilities of POES


Remote Sensing Core Curriculum

This site provided by UMBC (an Honors University associated with the University of Maryland in Baltimore)


Remote Sensing of Temperature

Provided by the Marine Remote Sensing Lab, of Rutgers University and its Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences.

Includes information on the GOES-8 (satellite) Sounder and the MOES technique.



Remote Sensing of Water Vapor


This site provided by the Marine Remote Sensing Lab as part of their Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University.

Includes a brief discussion of the GOES Sounder and its ability to create water vapor imagery based on the absorption tendencies of atmospheric gases.


Remote Sensing, Tutorials (I) on


This site provided by NASA's, Goddard Space Flight Center.

It includes a well-organized set of tutorials which take the reader through an in-depth discussion of "remote sensing."

Tutorial topics Include:

  1. Technical and Historical Perspectives of Remote Sensing (Introduction)

  2. Image Processing and Interpretation (Section 1)

  3. Radar and Microwave Remote Sensing (Section 8)

  4. The Warm Earth- Thermal Remote Sensing (Section 9)

  5. The Water Planet- Meteorological, Oceanographic and Hydrologic Applications of Remote Sensing (Section 14)


Remote Sensing, Tutorials (II) on


This site provided by the Marine Remote Sensing Lab as part of their Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University.

Tutorial topics Include:

  1. Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer


  2. Black Body Radiation


  3. Earth Radiation Budget (ERB)


  4. The Electromagnetic Spectrum


  5. High Frequency Radar (HF-Radar


  6. Keplerian Elements


  7. Satellite Orbits



Satellite Meteorology, Research in


Provided by NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL).

The goal of the satellite remote sensing group is to apply remote sensing techniques to satellite data to further knowledge of sea surface temperature, air-sea interactrion, winds, water vapor, clouds and radiation. The satellite group uses a suite of Geostationary and Polar orbiting satellite data from NOAA, DMSP, and NASA environmental statellites to gain a fundamental understanding of the atmosphere and air-sea interface.



Satellite Meteorology, Tutorial (I) on


Provided by NOAA's University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), as part of its "COMET" Education and Training Program.



Satellite Meteorology, Tutorial (II) on


An excellent tutorial provided by the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois, and their Weather World 2010 Project.

Includes discussion on the following topics:

  1. GOES Satellites

  2. POES Satellites

  3. Interpreting Satellite Imagery




Satellite Meteorology, Tutorial (III) on


This site provided by the Physics Department at the University of Wisconsin.

A well-organized tutorial which briefly covers such things as:

  1. uses of weather satellites

  2. types of weather satellites (Geostationary and Polar-Orbiting)

  3. weather satellite image examples

  4. a summary quiz on satellites


Satellite Orbits, Tutorial on


This site provided by the Marine Remote Sensing Lab, as part of the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University.

A single-page, easy-to-understand discussion of polar-orbiting, sun synchronous and geosynchronous satellites.


Satellite Server, Geostationary


Provided by NOAA's Geostationary Satellite Server, and includes an extensive suite of GOES satellite imagery and products.


Satellites, GOES


This site provided by NASA'S Laboratory for Atmospheres, as part of Goddard Space Flight Center.

Includes a wealth of information about the GOES satellites.


Storms from Space


This site provided as part of NASA's Athena, Earth and Space Science for K-12 , which was originally created by NASA.

Includes vivid satellite pictures of hurricanes, pertinent study questions and general information about satellites and their orbits.

Also includes a good discussion on the basics of satellite orbits.


Weather Satellite Operations


This site provided by the Office of Satellite Operations.

Includes:

  1. an in-depth history of NOAA's Environmental Satellite Program.

  2. a discussion of GOES, POES and the DMSP Satellite System



Weather Satellites, Research from


This site provided by the Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology (RAMM) Team, which represents a combination research effort by NOAA's NESDIS Research and Applications Office and Colorado State University.

Here you will find discussion concerning satellite research involving such topics as severe storms, hurricanes and precipitation.

Also included are the following (rather technical) tutorials:

  1. The GOES Imager

  2. Advanced GOES Imagery Applications

  3. The 3.9 micrometer imaging channel



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Last updated May 7, 2008.