Learning Resources

Real-time Data Access and POES Updates

NOAA/NESDIS Polar Orbiting Satellite Sounding Evaluator (POSSE)
Visit this site to view and evaluate the latest polar satellite sounding data and derived products. Browse plan view plots of level data and clickable maps to view individual sounding profiles and cross sections. The POSSE system is currently configured to allow access to NOAA satellite sounding data produced by the ATOVS Processing System.

NOAA/NESDIS POES Quantitative Satellite Products
Provides access to sounding products from the NOAA (civilian) RTOVS, ATOVS, and DMSP (military) sounding systems. The new sounding system, ATOVS, uses NOAA-15 radiance data from the new instruments, HIRS/3 and AMSU-A. Also includes a link to POSSE, an interactive system allowing access to individual sounding retrievals spanning the globe.

NOAA/NESDIS/ORA/Hydrology Team/Microwave Remote Sensing Page
This site provides access to real-time NOAA-AMSU and DMSP-SSM/I datasets spanning a large range of operational as well as experimental products.

NOAA/NESDIS Microwave Surface and Precipitation Products System (MSPPS)
This site provides access to a variety of AMSU products from NOAA polar satellites. MSPPS produces near-real-time operational surface and precipitation products from AMSU-A and -B brightness temperatures. Products presently include total precipitable water, cloud liquid water, rain rate, snow cover, and sea ice concentration.

CIRA's AMSU Web site
This site provides information relevant to the AMSU and derived products and includes a capability to browse real-time AMSU products as they appear prior to dissemination to various NWS AWIPS sites.

NOAA/NESDIS Product Systems Branch
This site provides access to a large variety of operational polar satellite products in real-time for atmospheric, ocean surface, and land surface applications. Includes products from NOAA, DMSP and Terra (MODIS) satellites. An excellent source for global sea surface temperature, ozone, aerosol concentration, and radiation budget products and information.

NOAA/NESDIS Marine Observing Systems Team
This site provides links to real-time SSM/I products, scatterometer wind data, and other data related to ocean properties.

NWS Alaska Region - Real-time POES and GOES Satellite Imagery
This site provides browse imagery of real-time POES, GOES, and GMS products generated for operations by the NWS Alaska Region.

NCEP/EMC/OMB (Ocean Modeling Branch) Sea Ice Home Page
This site provides links to products and information on sea ice analysis from satellite and its uses in regional analyses and global modeling. OMB microwave-based sea ice products currently support sea ice analysis efforts at the Anchorage Alaska WSFO, as well as sea ice and weather modeling activities at NCEP. Follow the "Daily Sea Ice Analyses" link for product examples.

NRL Monterey Satellite Meteorology Home Page
This site provides a browse capability for near-real-time DMSP SSM/I and GOES image products for select coastal and oceanic regions spanning the globe.

MODIS Direct Broadcast at SSEC
This site provides a browse capability for a subset of the 36 channels on the MODIS instrument covering the past eight days. In addition to the thumbnails, the site includes information on orbital tracks, times, and coverage in graphical form.

NOAA/NESDIS Office of Satellite Operations Home Page - GOES and POES Status Reports

NOAA/NESDIS Office of Systems Development (OSD) POES Page - POES Specific News and Information

NGDC's (National Geophysical Data Center) DMSP Web site
(follow "Data Availability" link)

Online References

NESDIS Satellite Product Overview Display-(site currently down, 20-Feb-02) Consolidated Products List (CPL) An excellent source of information on the elements involved in the production of NESDIS GOES and POES products. Information searches can be initiated by satellite, instrument, product group, or by individual products. Resource information includes cognizant contacts, users, technical references, additional Web links, and more.

NOAA KLM USER'S GUIDE

NOAA POD (Polar Orbiter Data) User's Guide

NGDC's (National Geophysical Data Center) DMSP Web site
(follow first two links)

NASA POES Project Office

Other Online Training and Decision Aids

NRL (Navy Research Laboratory) Monterey Tutorial on DMSP SSM/I

NRL Monterey Satellite Meteorology Home Page
By clicking the "NRL Products Training" link, visitors have access to tutorials organized by meteorological phenomena and parameter for microwave products derived from the DMSP SSM/I and VIS/IR products derived from GOES. Each tutorial also includes a "Current Products" link for viewing relevant products in real-time.

Other COMET Sponsored Training Resources

COMET Satellite Meteorology Course Homepage

Integrated Sensor Training Professional Development Series
(PCU #6 - Using Satellite Data and Products)

Bibliography

Burns, B.A., X. Wu, and G.R. Diak, 1997: Effects of precipitation and cloud ice on brightness temperatures in AMSU moisture channels. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 35, 1429-1437.

SUMMARY: This paper summarizes the impact of scattering and absorption by cloud ice on the retrieval of water vapor profiles from AMSU measurements using SSM/I data. Results suggest the need for a screening strategy designed to remove convective areas prior to water vapor retrieval.

Diak, G.R., D. Kim, M.S. Whipple, and X. Wu, 1992: Preparing for the AMSU. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 73, 1971-1984.

SUMMARY: A good overview of the planned capabilities of AMSU prior to its launch on NOAA-15 in 1998. Improvements over the MSU and impacts of combined AMSU and HIRS sounding are addressed as well.

Dills, P.N., A. Mostek, P. Taylor, and S. Wang, 2000: Polar satellite sensor training for the operational weather services. Preprints, 10th Conf. on Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography, Long Beach, CA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 28-31.

SUMMARY: This paper reviews the COMET polar satellite training effort, organized to train operational weather forecasters in the interpretation and effective use of polar satellite data and products. Included are brief highlights from modules 1, 2, and 3.

Ferraro, R.R., Weng, F. Grody, N.C., and L. Zhao, 2000: Precipitation characteristics over land from the NOAA-15 AMSU sensor. Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, 2669-2672.

SUMMARY: Paper highlights the significant improvements in the identification of stratiform precipitation made possible when incoporating higher resolution measurements at 150 GHz from the AMSU-B sensor. The technique is operational and yielding promising results particularly over land where retrieval of atmospheric temperature, moisture, and precipitation is complicated by the land surface's varying microwave emissions.

Ferguson, M.P., and A. Reale, 2000: Cloud detection techniques in NESDIS Advanced-TOVS (ATOVS) sounding product systems. Preprints, 16th International Conf. on IIPS for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology, Long Beach, CA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 252-254.

SUMMARY: This paper summarizes the techniques used in the ATOVS operational sounding products systems for detecting clouds.

Goodrum, G., K.B. Kidwell, and W. Winston, 1999: NOAA KLM User’s Guide. NOAA, NESDIS, NCDC, Climate Services Division, Satellite Services Branch, revised May 1999.

SUMMARY: The NOAA KLM User’s Guide is an excellent source for detailed descriptions of the advanced instruments and data formats for the newest series of polar orbiting satellites starting with NOAA-15. The publication also contains updated data calibration information now obsolete in publication NESS 107.

Grody, N.C., 1993: Remote sensing of the atmosphere from satellites using microwave radiometry. Atmospheric Remote Sensing by Microwave Radiometry, M.A. Janssen, Ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 259-334.

SUMMARY: An excellent source for reviewing the historical development and physical principles of remote sensing using microwave radiometry. Includes discussion of retrieval algorithms, surface, and precipitation products. The document also includes an extensive bibliography.

Kidder, S.Q., et al., 2000: Satellite analysis of tropical cyclones using the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU). Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 81, 1241-1259.

SUMMARY: Provides an excellent overview of the AMSU instrument's ability to observe tropical cyclones and their tropospheric structure from different perspectives including, upper-tropospheric thermal anomalies, correlation of maximum temperature anomalies with maximum wind speed and central pressure, winds calculated from the temperature anomaly field, and tropical cyclone rainfall potential.

Kidder, S.Q., and T.H. Vonder Haar, 1995: Satellite Meteorology. Academic Press, 466 pp.

SUMMARY: An excellent textbook for reference to satellite instrumentation, satellite-derived quantitative information, and analysis techniques. Extensive bibliographies are included with each chapter.

Kidwell, K.B., 1998: NOAA Polar Orbiter Data User's Guide (TIROS-N through NOAA-14). NOAA, NESDIS, NCDC, Climate Services Division, Satellite Services Branch, revised November 1998.

SUMMARY: The POD User’s Guide contains a comprehensive description of the orbital and spacecraft characteristics, instruments, data formats, operational products and more, for the TIROS-N through NOAA-14 series.

Mignogno, M., and C. Nelson, 2000: NOAA polar program plans for continuous satellite coverage. Preprints, 16th International Conf. on IIPS for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology, Long Beach, CA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 458-461.

SUMMARY: This paper summarizes current and future polar spacecraft and instrument systems through the coming decade. Systems include the NOAA-K (NOAA-15), -L, and -M series, the European Meteorological Operational polar satellites (METOP), and the U.S.'s next generation polar satellites known as the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).

Petty, G.W., 1997: AMS Short Course on Passive Microwave Satellite Radiometry - Retrieval of Atmospheric Parameters, Long Beach, CA, 2 Feb. 1997, 61 pp.

SUMMARY: The document for this course serves as an in-depth guide to microwave radiometry, focusing on concepts and how they apply to a variety of meteorological and oceanographic applications. While examples focus on SSM/I measurements, discussions also refer to applicability with respect to NOAA’s AMSU, ADOES-II, EOS-PM, and TRMM satellites.

Poe, G.A., 1997: AMS Short Course: Introduction to Microwave Radiometry – 1.3 Review of Satellites – Historical Perspective, Long Beach, CA, 2 Feb. 1997, 33 pp.

SUMMARY: The document for this course provides a review of the major satellite imaging and sounding microwave instruments over the history of their development. While the main emphasis is on imaging radiometers and their impact on meteorological observation, some discussion of NOAA-AMSU and future DMSP microwave instruments is included.

Rao, P.K., S.J. Holmes, R.K. Anderson, J.S. Winstron, and P.E. Lehr, Eds., 1990: Weather Satellites: Systems, Data, and Environmental Applications. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 503 pp.

SUMMARY: This text provides a thorough overview of U.S. and international operational GOES and POES platforms and the applications of satellite data to forecasting, aviation, agriculture, and the geophysical sciences.

Reale, A., and M. Chalfant, 2000: NESDIS moisture sounding products from AMSU-B and SSM/T2. Preprints, 16th International Conf. on IIPS for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology, Long Beach, CA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 263-266.

SUMMARY: This paper describes the scientific algorithms, derived products, and accuracies of the AMSU-B (onboard NOAA-15) and SSM/T2 (onboard DMSP) microwave moisture sounders.

Reale, A., M. Chalfant, and L.M. Wilson, 2000: NESDIS Advanced-TOVS (ATOVS) sounding products. Preprints, 16th International Conf. on IIPS for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology, Long Beach, CA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 259-262.

SUMMARY: This paper summarizes the status of the scientific algorithms and operational sounding products for NOAA-15.

Smith, W.L., W.P. Bishop, V.F. Dvorak, C.M. Hayden, J.H. McElroy, F.R. Mosher, V.J. Oliver, J.F. Purdom, and D.Q. Wark, 1986: The meteorological satellite: Overview of 25 years of operation. Science, 231, 455-462.

SUMMARY: This review article provides brief descriptions of the history and status of meteorological monitoring by satellite. Highlighted subject areas include cloud analysis and the estimation of atmospheric motion, applications to severe storm forecasting, tropical storm surveillance, and input to numerical forecast models.

Spencer, R.W. and W.D. Braswell, 2001: Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Monitoring with AMSU-A: Estimation of Maximum Sustained Wind Speeds. Mon. Wea. Rev., 129, 1518-1532.

SUMMARY: Paper outlines an experimental technique relating tropical cyclone warm core anomalies as observed by AMSU-A to maximum sustained winds. Paper also discusses operational considerations, including the detection of weak cyclones and false alarm reduction.

Vaughn, W.W., 1982: Meteorological Satellites – Past, Present, and Future. AIAA 20^th Aerospace Sciences Meeting, NASA Conference Publication 2227, Orlando, FL, 63 pp.

SUMMARY: A collection of brief papers reviews the major activities and developments in the U.S.’s civilian and military meteorological satellite programs.

Back to Top

POES Teletraining Home

COMET Classroom Education and Teletraining Home Page