Geostationary and Polar Orbiting Meteorological Satellites

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Geostationary and Polar Orbiting Meteorological
Satellites

• And Basics of satellite interpretation

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Radiation in the Atmosphere
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Geo-Stationary Satellites
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GOES West East(Actually GOES-E is now GOES-12)
UIUC/NCAR
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GOES the latest

• GOES-N (13) L6/4/06 O 6/22/06
• Will be in storage at 105W, awaiting K-M failures
• GOES-M (12) L7/23/01 O4/1/03 at 75W
• GOES-L (11) L5/3/00 in storage ready 95W
• GOES-K (10) L 4/25/97 O 7/ 7/98 135W
• GOES-J (9) At 155E operational over Japan
• GOES-I (8) decommissioned drifting

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GOES I M Mission

• Acquisition, processing dissemination of
  imaging and sounding data
• Relay of WEFAX data
• Search and Rescue (SARSAT)

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SARSAT
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GOES Imager
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GOES Imager

• Multi-channel instrument that detects IR radiant
  from Earth and reflected solar
• Channel 1 visible channel 0.52-0.72 microns. At
  1 km resolution it is
• Useful for cloud identification, pollution, haze
  detection, severe storm characteristics

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4 Infrared Imager Channels

• 3.78 - 4.03 micron (shortwave IR) 4 km resolution
• Fog, and SST determination at night
• Daytime discriminates between water and ice
  clouds
• 6.47 7.02 microns (upper level water vapor
  channel)
• 10.2 11.2 microns (longwave IR)
• 11.5 12.5 microns (Split window IR)
• IR sensitive to water vapor

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Channels 4 and 5 (Longwave IR)

• Thick clouds emit the same amount of radiation at
  11 and 12 microns.
• Optically thin clouds (Ci) however, do not.
• Subtraction of Ch 5 from 4 yields the Brightness
  Temperature Difference
• Brightness Temp Differencess display thin clouds
  very prominently, as well as ash and dust

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Shortwave IR Channel 2(3.9 microns)

• Detects (1) outbound Earth IR, but also
• (2) reflected solar shortwave IR during the day
  (sun emits mostly IR)
• the amount is unknown and varies with the
  reflecting material (ocean, snow, sand, cloud,
  etc)
• Clouds (for example) More reflected IR for water
  droplet clouds and much less for ice crystals or
  snow covered ground

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Shortwave IR (continued)

• At night, no reflected shortwave IR and
  differences between water ice are due to
  emission variations from Earth.
• i.e., water/warmer, ice/colder and it emits more
• Water drops emit less radiation at 3.9 microns
  than at 11 microns (Channel 4)
• Cirrus emit the same amount at both waves
• Subtracting Ch 2 from 4 yields a product that
  sharply reveals watery low clouds, stratus and
  fog.

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The water vapor channel

• Detects mid-level moisture content and its
  advection
• Helps identify mid- and upper-tropospheric
  circulation features
• Sensitivity to vapor in 300 700 mb range,
  peaking at about 490 mb

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Satellite Image Analysis Products
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Winds from Satellite Upper Level
http//www.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/
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Winds from Satellite Low Level
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Wind Shear
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Upper Level Divergence
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Low Level Vorticity
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Sea Surface Winds (QuikScat)
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Imager SSTs
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Black Hills Snowstorm (imager winds)
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Black Hills Snowstorm (300 mb Div)
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GOES Sounder
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GOES Sounder Unit

• One visible band and 18 thermal IR bands
  sensitive to temperature, moisture, and ozone
• For example, 4 shortwave IR bands near 4 microns
  are progressively more sensitive to carbon
  dioxide and see deeper into the atmosphere
• They enhance the detail of near-earth temperature
  conditions (see following slide)

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Additional GOES sounder and Imager information
are available at http//cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/g
oesmain.htmlsndrinfoA variety of GOES imager
and sounder products are presented at
orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/goesand some are
illustrated below
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Sounder Lifted Indices
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GOES Soundings
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Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES)

• Sun synchronous orbits
• Pass close to the poles
• Orbital period about 102 minutes
• 450 nautical miles (800 km) altitude

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www2010.atmos.uiuc.edu
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POES Satellites

• Earth rotates below the satellite, which makes 14
  orbits a day
• Every spot imaged at least 4 times a day

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Current NOAA POES

• NOAA 12, 14 and 15 all transmit and are
  stand-by
• NOAA- 16 17 are operational launched 9/21/00
  6/24/02 respectively
• A.k.a. Advanced TIROS-N satellites (ATN)
• TIROS Television Infrared Observation Satellites

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ATN Imaging Instruments

• Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
  (AVHRR/3)
• Two Advanced Microwave Sounding Units (AMSU-A and
  AMSU-B)
• High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder
  (HIRS/3)
• Space Environment Monitor (SEM/2)

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ATN Instruments Purpose

• AVHRR 6 channels, similar to GOES
• HIRS/3 20 spectral bands calculate vertical
  temperature profiles from surface to 40 km
• AMSUs a wide variety of applications in
  investigating water vapor
• SEM solar wind, solar particles

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Polar Orbiting Satellites
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Temperature Values
Vertical profilers, using high resolution (by
wavelength) can estimate the values of
temperature at various heights, supplementing the
standard observing network, filling gaps over the
ocean.
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Sea Surface Temperature
Infrared Satellite data measures the temperature
of whatever is radiating into space. By
accounting for effects of the atmosphere, an
estimate of the surface temperature can be made.
http//www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/SST/data/FS_km14
gm00.gif
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Precipitable Water
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Precipitation Rate