POES Coverage

Polar orbiting satellites orbit the earth longitudinally passing directly over the poles at an altitude of about 850 km (530 miles). With each orbit, the satellite sees an area that is west of the previous pass. Because these satellites are in a low orbit and look directly down, the images they record show great detail about storms. While images record great detail, POES captures only a few images per location every day. These satellites provide unparalleled imagery of the polar regions. This animation shows the orbit of a U.S. Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES).