[slate]
So a geostationary satellite
is one that is 22,000 miles above the Earth and it basically
stays in a constant position so it keeps track of the current weather
watches what's going on today over the continental United States. A polar
orbiter is much closer in. 500 miles above the Earth
and actually rotates and continues or
continues to orbit as the Earth rotates so it covers the entire globe twice
a day. That actually gives us a snapshot of all the weather around the world
temperature and humidity and we feed that into global weather models in order to
to provide a forecast out 3-7 days.
[slate]
So we're trying improve our capabilities
to forecast the weather out 3-7 days
because it's very important for emergency weather managers
for folks to be able to predict what's going to happen and then
stage for severe weather or plan marine
routing for marine transportation that brings in goods or services to and
from the country. Agriculture, do you irrigate
a particular area or is it going to rain. All those types of things
forecasts or predictive capabilities that polar satellites bring.
[slate]
So geostationary
satellites as you asked in your first question provide
that now-casting capability - watching what's happening now
where is the severe weather. But the polar satellites compliment that by saying
what's going on around the world overall
there might be weather out off of China today, but that moisture
may be in the Pacific northwest of the United States in just several days.
So getting that picture with those polar satellites is also key
to the overall forecast process.
[slate]
So this new satellite actually helps to predict
the potential for these types of outbreaks
but then we would be tracking them with the geostationary satellites or even with ground
radars, when we're talking about minute by minute
because minutes count for tornados. But in order
to be prepared and have folks aware and ready to monitor
those the polar satellite is very key for that forecast
capability.
[slate] I'm excited
that this will join our latest geostationary satellite
in orbit. The United States will have two
newest generation of technology - geostationary and polar satellites
at the same time. So that really brings a great
capability to the National Weather Service and the nation for protecting lives and property
[slate]
So the data
for this with this predictive capability and with the monitor actually affects us
a whole host of economic activities from
the aviation sector making sure folks can fly safely across the country.
That you don't find out about your delay at the airport, you find out well in advance
marine transportation can
go around storms to make sure goods come in and out of the country
Irrigation for agriculture we
will know when to turn it on if it's going to rain we don't necessarily
have to. Those sorts of things are areas where we'll have economic impact
[slate]
Please follow our Twitter
feed @noaa satellites to get updates on launch.