GEOG 2195 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Sun-Synchronous Orbit, Radiometer, Television Infrared Observation Satellite
Document Summary
These are used for weather monitoring and forecasting. They are launched in near-polar orbits providing repetitive coverage of global weather patterns. Such as in 1966 the launch of the geostationary ats-1 by nasa which provided hemispheric images of the earths surface and cloud cover every half hour. This was the first time the development and movement of weather systems could be routinely monitored. They are generally satellites with sensors that have fairly coarse spatial resolution that provide large areal coverage. They have generally high temporal resolutions that provide frequent observations of the earths surface, atmospheric moisture and cloud cover. This allows for near-continuous monitoring of global weather conditions and thus forcasting. Goes is used in weather monitoring and forecasting, it has very low resolution. This is a network of satellites each with a specific footprint. Two are in geostationary orbits 36,000 km above the equator each viewing about 1/3 of the earth.
