Short-term Prediction Research
and Transition Center

SPoRT Collaborators

NASA Earth Science Office The NASA Earth Science Office (ESO) is the NASA component of Earth Science research conducted at the National Space Science and Technology Center in Huntsville, Alabama. With the aid of NASA datasets, systems, and tools, the ESO conducts research in the areas of archeology, atmospheric and land-surface modeling, atmospheric electricity and lightning, infrared and microwave remote sensing, hydrology, and information management. The ESO is a unique joining of the talents of government, academic, and industry researchers, including collaborations with other research centers in the United States and abroad.

NWS Southern Region No region of the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) offers more meteorological challenges than the Southern Region. In fact, the Southern Region alone receives one third of all the rainfall in the U.S. , half of the nation's severe thunderstorm, flash flood and tornado events, and by far, the greatest number of U.S. land-falling tropical cyclones. In short, the Southern Region encompasses an area that is home to some of the most active weather in the world.

JCSDA The Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA) seeks to accelerate and improve the quantitative use of research and operational satellite data in weather, ocean, climate and environmental analysis and prediction models. The specific goals of the JCSDA are to reduce from two years to one year the average time for operational implementation of new satellite technology, increase uses of current satellite data in numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, advance the common NWP models and data assimilation infrastructure, and assess the impacts of data from advanced satellite sensors on weather and climate predictions.

AMU The Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) develops, evaluates and transitions technology to operations for weather support to America’s space program. It evaluates research conducted at universities, public and private laboratories, and the private sector. The AMU then acts as a bridge, transitioning research results into applications used for operations by the Spaceflight Meteorology Group, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) 45th Weather Squadron, and the NWS office in Melbourne, Florida. The AMU is funded by NASA and represents a cooperative effort between NASA, the USAF and NWS.

GSD Formerly known as the Forecast Systems Laboratory, the mission of the Earth System Research Laboratory’s Global Systems Division (GSD) is to anticipate the science and technology that will be needed by the nation's operational atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic forecasting services in the next five to ten years. After researching and developing new observing and forecasting systems, GSD transfers those technologies to operational users such as the NWS, other government agencies, the commercial and general aviation communities, foreign weather forecasting services, and other private interests.

NSSL The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) is one of NOAA's internationally known research laboratories, leading the way in investigations of all aspects of severe weather. Headquartered at the National Weather Center in Norman, OK, the mission of NSSL is to enhance NOAA’s capabilities to provide accurate and timely forecasts and warnings of hazardous weather events such as blizzards, ice storms, flash floods, tornadoes, and lightning. NSSL accomplishes this mission, in partnership with the NWS, through a balanced program of research to advance the understanding of weather processes, research to improve forecasting and warning techniques, development of operational applications, and transfer of understanding, techniques, and applications to the NWS and other public and private sector agencies.

USWRP The United States is poised to achieve extraordinary advances in the science of weather prediction. Major observational infrastructure investments by NOAA and NASA, such as the NWS modernization and next-generation satellites, respectively; enhanced cooperation among federal agencies and the academic community; and better understanding of the atmosphere provide a strong foundation for making these advances. The overarching goal of the U.S. Weather Research Program (USWRP) is to accelerate improvement in high-impact weather forecasting capability – in particular, improvement in forecast timing, location, and specific rainfall amounts associated with hurricane landfall and flood events that significantly affect the lives and property of U.S. inhabitants.

SSEC Part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Graduate School, the Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) is a research and development center with primary focus on geophysical research and technology to enhance understanding of the atmosphere of Earth, the other planets in our Solar System, and the cosmos. The SSEC develops new observing tools for spacecraft, aircraft, and ground-based platforms, and models atmospheric phenomena. It also receives, manages and distributes huge amounts of geophysical data, and develops software to visualize and manipulate these data for use by researchers and operational meteorologists all over the world.

Other Pertinent Links

MODIS Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer offers a unique combination of features: it detects a wide spectral range of electromagnetic energy; takes measurements at three spatial resolutions (levels of detail); takes measurements all day, every day; and has a wide field of view. This continual, comprehensive coverage allows MODIS to complete an electromagnetic picture of the globe every two days. MODIS's frequent coverage complements other imaging systems such as Landsat's Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus, which reveals the Earth in finer spatial detail, but can only image a given area once every 16 days — too infrequently to capture many of the rapid biological and meteorological changes that MODIS observes.

"Terra" NASA launched the Earth Observing System's flagship satellite "Terra," named for Earth, on December 18, 1999. Terra has been collecting data about Earth's changing climate. Terra carries five state-of-the-art sensors that have been studying the interactions among the Earth's atmosphere, lands, oceans, and radiant energy. Each sensor has unique design features that will enable scientists to meet a wide range of science objectives.

"Aqua" is a major international Earth Science satellite mission centered at NASA. Launched on May 4, 2002, the satellite has six different Earth-observing instruments on board and is named for the large amount of information being obtained about water in the Earth system from its stream of approximately 89 Gigabytes of data a day. The water variables being measured include almost all elements of the water cycle and involve water in its liquid, solid, and vapor forms. Additional variables being measured include radiative energy fluxes, aerosols, vegetation cover on the land, phytoplankton and dissolved organic matter in the oceans, and air, land, and water temperatures.

GOES satellites provide the kind of continuous monitoring necessary for intensive data analysis. They circle the Earth in a geosynchronous orbit, which means they orbit the equatorial plane of the Earth at a speed matching the Earth's rotation. This allows them to hover continuously over one position on the surface. The geosynchronous plane is about 35,800 km (22,300 miles) above the Earth, high enough to allow the satellites a full-disc view of the Earth. Because they stay above a fixed spot on the surface, they provide a constant vigil for the atmospheric "triggers" for severe weather conditions such as tornadoes, flash floods, hail storms, and hurricanes. When these conditions develop, the GOES satellites are able to monitor storm development and track their movements.