Chapter II: Historical Milestones in Satellite Meteorology
Historical Milestones in Satellite Meteorology
The branch of satellite meteorology came up in the early 60ies with the first cameras on board of earth orbiting satellites. Difficulties to overcome were the stabilization of the camera, image data transfer to the ground, thermal heat protection and many other technical challenges. Meteorological instruments onboard satellites evolved in time, some of them proved of value and were used in succeeding generations of satellites (so called heritage instruments).
While the exploration of space and the atmosphere was the target of the first satellite instruments, purely meteorological satellites came up in the mid 60ies. Technical development advanced in big steps driven by the race between Russia and the Unites States for the conquest of space. Later, other countries like China, India, Korea and Japan developed their own program of meteorological satellites. Europe operates geostationary meteorological satellites since 1977 (Meteosat-1), a program with polar orbiting satellites (MetOp) was started in 2006. EUMETSAT, the European organization for the exploitation of meteorological satellites, was founded in 1986 as an intergovernmental organization.
The next generation of geostationary satellite, GOES-R, is operational as GOES East, and GOES-S launched in March 2018. NOAA has been preparing for the data from its Advanced Baseline Imager and Geostationary Lightning Mapper for the next future. JMA launched Himawari-8 and 9, geostationary satellites with a similar imaging instrument. This presentation will show how Himawari-8 data has been used to prepare for similar data to begin flowing in early 2017. Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) will also carry a similar imager, so lessons learned from Himawari and GOES-R and -S will be helpful for MTG data users.
Satellites and Orbits: From Past to Current Satellites (Webcast, 30 minutes), 2014
The invention of weather satellites has opened a new area in weather forecasting. Satellite observations enable to continuously monitor the weather regimes on the whole globe. Therefore, they provide a powerful tool in weather forecasting. This lecture leads from the invention of weather satellites to the current operational satellites.
Overview of Cloud Products (Webcast, 35 minutes), 2012
Early in the history of polar orbiting satellite, imaging instruments were included to detect and classify clouds. Steve Ackerman will begin with a brief historical look at these first observations. This presentation will discuss the types of algorithms developed and applied to visible and infrared observations from the NOAA series, the two NASA EOS and the EUMETSAT MetOp platforms. Steve Ackerman will discuss areas of strength and weakness in cloud detection from these platforms and will end by exploring some climate and regional applications of the cloud analyzes from some of these cloud images.
Satellites, an Overview (Webcast, 90 minutes), 2011
The invention of weather satellites has opened a new area in weather forecasting. Satellite observations enable to continuously monitor the weather regimes on the whole globe. Therefore, they provide a powerful tool in weather forecasting. The first lecture of the satellite course leads from the invention of weather satellites to technical inventions and the current operational satellites.