Utilization of Operational Environmental Satellite Data Ensuring Readiness for 2010 and Beyond (2004) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
2 Multiplicity of Environmental Satellite Data Uses
2 Multiplicity of Environmental Satellite Data Uses
Pages 25-41
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 25... ...
and geostationary operational environmental satellites (GOES) that will fly near the end of this decade are designed to expand observational capability beyond severe weather and nearterm forecasting to take on the comprehensive environmental mission identified in NOAA's vision, mission, and goals (see Box 2.1)
|
From page 26... ...
As a consequence, the user community is expanding rapidly, and NOAA's role in fulfill ing this demand for increasingly precise and up-to-date environmental information beyond weather forecasts must be addressed. The following is a sampling of uses presented here to alert the appropriate agencies to the growing demand for informa tion that at least in part will require operational satellite data.
|
From page 27... ...
Improved accuracy and resolution in sea-surface temperature fields are sought not only by those studying and predicting climate variability, but also by the NWS community because of the role of sea-surface temperature in forcing the atmosphere, including its influence on hurricane tracks. High-quality surface vector winds and altimetry will also be sought because, together with in situ data from the ocean, these remotely sensed fields will allow estimation of the wind-driven currents and also the density-driven or geostrophic currents that together transport and redistribute heat in the ocean.
|
From page 28... ...
Because the weather forecasting mission has dominated the use of operational satellite data, product generation has generally been tied to atmospheric and hydro logic systems. Detection of global change requires measurements that can show variations and trends in all types of environmental data often gathered only serendipitously in the course of traditional weather monitoring.
|
From page 29... ...
For example, to set premiums the energy-use insurance industry must factor in estimates of upcoming weather conditions, and NOAA GOES-R can improve the accuracy of energy load forecasting.3 NOAA may find itself in the high-profile role of having to address these coming 3Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite System (GOES) GOES-R sounder and imager cost/ benefit analysis, prepared for the GOES Users Conference, October 1-3, 2002, Boulder, Colorado, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
|
From page 30... ...
"But now," he continued, "we have a coherent picture from which to begin to see how that rela tionship forms." Transportation and Recreation The lack of limits to the uses of environmental satellite data poses exciting possibilities. A recreational traveler today has a general idea of the road conditions ahead and how they might change during his journey.
|
From page 31... ...
The role of NOAA in enabling such an information explosion is addressed in Chapter 5. USERS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE DATA IN 2010 As indicated above, users of operational satellite data will span a broad spectrum encompassing mainstream users such as government agencies that require massive and expensive infrastructure as well as casual Web-surfers who rely on inexpensive, hand-held devices.
|
From page 32... ...
A primary objective of the NASA Earth Observing System has been to deliver usable remote sensing data products to a wider array of less sophisticated users (see the section "MODIS Fire Rapid Response System" in Appendix D)
|
From page 33... ...
The Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS) is being designed by NOAA to catalog, archive, and disseminate all NOAA environmental satellite data produced after 2006.
|
From page 34... ...
As addressed in Chapter 3 of this report, the user interface has long been the greatest impediment to making satellite data readily accessible to public, private, and scientific communities. SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE DATA As indicated above, the current flow of real-time and near-real-time information in NOAA is directly related to weather, ocean, and space monitoring and forecast ing.
|
From page 35... ...
GOES advanced imager data on clouds and winds and advanced sounder data on humidity profiles 7Prepared for the GOES Users Conference, October 1-3, 2002, Boulder, Colorado, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)
|
From page 36... ...
As in Case Study 3, GOES advanced imager data on clouds and winds and advanced sounder data on humidity profiles are expected to substantially reduce the amount of error in short-term (3-hour) temperature forecasts.
|
From page 37... ...
GOES-R will better anticipate near-term ice formation conditions: better models of precipitation as well as more timely and accurate information on land surface temperature to indicate when the ground temperature is below freezing. GOES-R will also provide a higher resolution real time fog product that will allow drivers to more efficiently reroute." In looking toward the future, it is difficult to predict exactly what applications users will find for data from environmental satellite sensors (satellite-based or groundbased)
|
From page 38... ...
Neither NOAA nor the land management agencies are effectively utilizing current satellite technologies and data sets for vegetation science, management, or applications. Operational satellites provide global environmental weather and ocean moni toring data at kilometer spatial scales, sufficient to track hurricanes and other severe weather, and sufficient to monitor large-scale changes in surface conditions.
|
From page 39... ...
In addition, Landsat-type observations fill an important niche between the highly repetitive but coarse-spatial-resolution observations from the current NOAA AVHRR and NASA EOS MODIS and the future NPOESS VIIRS instruments and the ultrahigh-spatial-resolution, local observatories such as the IKONOS instrument operated by the Space Imaging Corporation. Landsat-class imagery provides systematic global coverage at a frequency sufficient to capture seasonal variations and at a spatial resolution where land cover dynamics, under the influence of natural processes and human activities, is clearly evident.
|
From page 40... ...
VIIRS and OLI would provide complementary observations to complete NOAA's environmental satellite mission. VIIRS will offer almost daily coverage of Earth's entire surface in 22 spectral bands at spatial resolution from 400 to 800 m.
|
From page 41... ...
Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, the EPA, and other interested parties to select operational land vegetation variables for generation from NPOESS, GOES, and other operational systems that will have high utility for land management. Only with direct and ongoing interaction with the land management agencies can the optimum mix of variables, time and space resolutions, variable units, data formats, distribution pipelines, and related details be determined.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.