SSEC Satellite Imagery: Then and Now

Jean M. Phillips, LibrarianSpace Science & Engineering CenterUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonJuly 2006

What will we talk about?

The Father of Satellite Meteorology Applications Technology Satellites (ATS) Spin-Scan camera Images and movies Web sites and books for further study

Father of Satellite Meteorology

Verner E. Suomi Inventor of Spin-Scan Camera which

allowed continuous viewing of weather from space over a large fraction of Earth’s surface

Suomi understood benefits of observing single weather events at frequent intervals

ATS-I Spacecraft: 1966ATS-III Spacecraft: 1967

From: The Applications Technology Satellite Meteorological Data Catalog: Volume I)

Spin-Scan Camera

From: The Applications Technology Satellite Meteorological Data Catalog: Volume

How did it work?

Suomi used the spin of the satellite to scan the earth – 2400 satellite revolutions needed to produce one Earth image

The camera scanned a small strip of the Earth with each rotation, tilting slightly for the next rotation (or line of the picture)

One Earth image created every 20 minutes

Why is it important to know what the weather will do?

18 November 1967 movie

The first full day of good, color pictures from the ATS-III

How we view satellite images today

http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/east/animation/goeseastvis.html

Satellite Books and Web Sites Cobb, Allan B. Weather Observation Satellites. Rosen Publishing,

2003. (Grades 5-8) Knapp, Brian J. What satellites see. Grolier, 2004. Satellite meteorology for grades 7-12. CIMSS, UW-Madison:

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satmet/ Satellites: An historical look at each civilian weather satellite

launched by the United States. Florida State University: http://www.met.fsu.edu/explores/satellites/

Satellites and space. NOAA: http://www.education.noaa.gov/sspace.html

How do you make a weather satellite? NASA, NOAA: http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/112194main_weather_satellite_booklet.pdf