CONTACT:  Patricia Viets, NOAA         FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
          Cynthia O'Carroll, NASA      5/13/98

A new satellite that will improve weather forecasting and monitor environmental events around the world was successfully launched today at 8:52 a.m. PDT, the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA announced. All deployments were confirmed 30 minutes after the launch.

NOAA-K, a joint project of NOAA and NASA, was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., into a near-polar orbit 516 miles above the Earth on a U.S. Air Force Titan II rocket. It will circle the Earth every 102 minutes, passing over the North and South Poles on each orbit.

NOAA-K is the first in a series of five satellites with improved imaging and sounding capabilities that will operate over the next 12 years. Like other NOAA satellites, NOAA-K will collect meteorological data and transmit the information to users around the world to enhance weather and climate forecasting. In the United States, the data will be used primarily by the National Weather Service for its operational long-range weather and climate forecasts.

The design of the satellite will enable it to "scan" the Earth, and provide continuous global images of cloud cover, surface parameters such as snow, ice, and vegetation; atmospheric temperatures, moisture, and aerosol distributions; and collect and relay information from data platforms.

"With NOAA-K, we will get better measurements of atmospheric temperature and moisture values," said Mike Mignogno, NOAA's polar program manager. "These translate into better information, particularly in the troposphere under cloudy conditions. The result will be accurate, global, tropospheric temperature and moisture data under all sky conditions."

"The improved cloud, snow cover and sea surface temperature data means improved forecasts of potential flooding and drought conditions," said Ronald McPherson, director of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction, one of the primary users of the polar satellite data. "The observations will also enhance the National Weather Service's ability to forecast storms such as those we have experienced during the major El Nino event, as well as the El Nino itself."

NOAA-K will also carry search and rescue instruments that are used internationally in locating ships and aircraft in distress. The use of satellites in search and rescue has been instrumental in saving more than 7000 lives since the inception of the Search and Rescue Satellite-aided Tracking (SARSAT) system.

NOAA operates two polar-orbiting and two geostationary environmental satellites. Currently, NOAA is operating NOAA-12, launched in May 1991, and NOAA-14, launched in December 1994. NOAA-K, to be renamed NOAA-15 once in orbit, will replace NOAA-12, which will be deactivated.

NOAA and NASA work together to develop and launch NOAA's environmental satellites. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., is responsible for the construction, integration, and verification testing of the satellite, instruments, and ground equipment. NASA arranges launch of the satellites with the U.S. Air Force. Following the launch, NASA turns operational control of the satellite over to NOAA after a comprehensive on-orbit verification period, which is expected to last about 60 days.

NOAA operates the satellites from the Satellite Operations Control Center of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service in Suitland, Md.

Information on the polar satellites is available on the World Wide Web at: http://poes2.gsfc.nasa.gov and at http://www2.ncdc.noaa.gov/docs/intro.htm