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Tiros
40th Anniversary
The
images above show the stark contrast between the first image
beamed down from TIROS-1 on April 1, 1960 and the full-color
full-Earth images that GOES-8 produces every three hours.
But, if it hadn't been for TIROS and the TIROS experiment,
there would be no GOES images today.
APRIL
1 MARKS 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST WEATHER SATELLITE
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Tiros
Launch
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April
1, 2000, marks the anniversary of the launch of the world’s
first weather satellite, reports the Commerce Department’s
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration. With today’s advanced
technology, and with images of clouds shown daily on television
weather forecasts, it may be difficult to remember the days
when there were no weather satellites.
The
world’s first weather satellite, a polar-orbiting satellite,
was launched from CapeCanaveral, Fla. on April 1, 1960. Named
"TIROS" for Television Infrared Observation Satellite,
it demonstrated the advantage of mapping the Earth’s
cloud cover from satellite altitudes. TIROS showed clouds
banded and clustered in unexpected ways. Sightings from the
surface had not prepared meteorologists for the interpretation
of the cloud patterns that the view from an orbiting satellite
would show.
Today,
the nation’s environmental satellites are operated by
NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information
Service in Suitland, Md. NOAA's operational environmental
satellite system is composed of two types of satellites: geostationary
operational environmental satellites (GOES) for national,
regional, short-range warning and "now-casting;"
and polar-orbiting environmental satellites (POES) for global,
long-term forecasting and environmental monitoring. Both types
of satellites also carry search and rescue instruments to
relay signals from aviators and mariners in distress.
POES
satellites monitor the entire Earth, tracking atmospheric
variables and providing atmospheric data and cloud images.
They track weather patterns affecting the weather and climate
of the United States. The satellites provide visible and infrared
radiometer data for imaging purposes, radiation measurements,
and temperature and moisture profiles. The polar orbiters'
ultraviolet sensors also measure ozone levels in the atmosphere
and are able to detect the "ozone hole" over Antarctica
from mid-September to mid-November. Each day, these satellites
send global measurements to NOAA's Command and Data Acquisition
station computers, adding vital information to forecasting
models, especially for remote ocean areas, where conventional
data are lacking.
GOES
satellites are a mainstay of weather forecasting in the United
States. They are the backbone of short-term forecasting or
nowcasting. The real-time weather data gathered by GOES satellites,
combined with data from Doppler radars and automated surface
observing systems, greatly aids weather forecasters in providing
warnings of thunderstorms, winter storms, flash floods, hurricanes,
and other severe weather. These warnings help to save lives
and preserve property. The United States operates two meteorological
satellites in geostationary orbit, one over the East Coast
and one over the West Coast with overlapping coverage over
the United States. Currently, GOES-8 and GOES-10 are in operation.
NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., is responsible
for the procurement, development, launch services and verification
testing of the spacecraft, instruments and unique ground equipment.
Following deployment of the spacecraft from the launch vehicle,
Goddard is responsible for the mission operation phase leading
to injection of the satellite into orbit and initial in-orbit
satellite checkout and evaluation.
Both
GOES and POES are necessary for providing a complete global
weather monitoring system. In addition, NOAA operates satellites
in the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, which are
also polar-orbiting satellites. NOAA also manages the processing
and distribution of the millions of bits of data and images
the satellites produce each day.
On
May 5, 1994, President Clinton made the landmark decision
to merge the nation's military and civil polar-orbiting operational
meteorological satellite systems into a single, national system
capable of satisfying both civil and national security requirements
for space-based remotely sensed environmental data. The new
system is called the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental
Satellite System, or NPOESS. Convergence of the civil and
military programs is the most significant change in U.S. operational
remote sensing since the launch of the first weather satellite.
The
first converged satellite is expected to be available for
launch in the latter half of the decade, approximately 2008,
depending on when the remaining POES and DMSP program satellite
assets are exhausted.
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