Remote Sensing Uses

Meteorologists need and use both in-situ and remote sensors. The United States, like most countries, has an in-situ ‘observing’ network of stations for measuring surface and upper-air (different altitudes in the atmosphere) weather information. However, these stations only measure atmospheric conditions at discrete locations/points and times. This network leaves gaps in weather information both spatially (in space) on the order of several kilometers to thousands of kilometers and temporally (in time) on the order of minutes to 12 hours. Remotely sensed data (satellite and radar) are vital to operational weather forecasters because they fill in the spatial and temporal gaps left by the observing network. Remote sensing provides meteorologists with detailed weather information that they could not obtain by just going outside and observing the sky themselves. These data complement and add to the surface and upper-air data to form a more complete and continuous picture of atmospheric conditions.

The second graphic (lower left) shows a plot of radar data filling in the spatial gaps in the observing, in-situ network. You will notice that radar data provide substantial coverage, yet spatial gaps remain. Satellite data are used to complete the coverage picture. The last graphic (lower right) shows satellite coverage over North America and adjacent water areas. The overlapping area of coverage is provided by two separate satellites.