NOAA,
GSA OFFICIALLY OPEN NEW ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE CENTER
Award-Winning
Facility Houses $50 Million in High-Tech Equipment, Controls
Satellites Worth $4.7 Billion
June
11, 2007 � The new home for NOAA's
around-the-clock, environmental satellite
operations, which provides data critical for weather
and climate prediction,
was officially opened today at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Suitland,
Md. Top leaders from NOAA, the U.S. General Services Administration
and several U.S. Congressional representatives from Maryland, said the
NOAA Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF) signifies America's solid
commitment to providing the best possible environmental satellite services.
(Click NOAA image for larger view of NOAA image of the ribbon-cutting
ceremony for the new NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland,
Md. Click here for high resolution
version. Please credit �NOAA.�)
"The
NOAA Satellite Operations Facility is a first-class center, with first-class
technology and operations that supply essential satellite data to forecasters
in order to produce the most accurate projections possible. Such a facility
has a significant role in, for example, predicting where hurricanes
will form, and when and where they will strike," said retired Navy
Vice Admiral Conrad
C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and
atmosphere and NOAA administrator.
Tropical
regions of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and East
Pacific, are continuously monitored by NOAA's geostationary (GOES)
weather satellites and the resulting satellite imagery are utilized
by National Hurricane Center
forecasters and are available to the media and the public. Hundreds
of images are taken of a given storm. (Click NOAA image for
larger view of NOAA image of new NOAA Satellite Operations Facility
in Suitland, Md. Click here for high
resolution version. Please credit �NOAA.�)
Each day,
NSOF processes more than 16 billion bytes of environmental satellite
data from NOAA's geostationary and polar-orbiting
spacecraft, and the Department of Defense's Meteorological Satellite
Program (DMSP). The NOAA National
Weather Service uses these data for constant tracking of severe
weather, and as inputs into models for medium to long range forecasts
for weather and tracking climate change. NSOF, which spans 208,271 gross
square feet, supports more than $50 million of high technology equipment,
including 16 antennas that control more than $4.7 billion worth of environmental
spacecraft.
"NOAA and its employees are world-class - from the researchers
to the scientists, forecasters and satellite experts. They are working
everyday to save lives and livelihoods. The nation depends on them to
help local weather forecasters get it right so our citizens can secure
their property and protect their families, and to assist in search and
rescue operations for lost mariners," said Senator Barbara A. Mikulski.
"They deserve a world-class facility so they can do their job and
meet NOAA's mission and mandate."
"This
remarkable facility is the culmination of a successful partnership between
NOAA, the GSA, Prince George's County, and private-sector partners,
giving us the opportunity to better monitor global climate change and
its impact on Maryland," said Senator Benjamin L. Cardin. "Additionally,
its environmentally friendly design demonstrates that the federal government
can be a leader in changing the way Americans think about constructing
energy efficient buildings." (Click NOAA image for larger
view of NOAA image of new NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland,
Md. Click here for high resolution
version. Please credit �NOAA.�)
NSOF,
situated on the Suitland Federal Center campus, was designed by the
firm Morphosis/Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture & Engineering,
P.C., and has already received several awards, including the GSA Design
Award for 2002. Thom Mayne, head of Morphosis, received the industry's
coveted Pritzker Architecture Prize for NSOF's design. A key design
feature of NSOF, which is mostly located underground, is the grass roof,
covering 146,000 square feet.
At a total
cost of $81 million, including both NOAA and GSA funding, NSOF houses
549 employees consisting of personnel from NOAA, Department of Defense,
U.S. Coast Guard, NASA and government contractors. Operations based
at NSOF include: NOAA's Satellite Operations Control Center, which provides
command, control and communications for NOAA's satellites and DMSP;
a computer center that processes the satellite data; the U.S. Mission
Control Center for the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking program,
called COSPAS-SARSAT, and
the National Ice Center, operated
by NOAA, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard.
NSOF is also gearing up to provide support for NOAA's next generation
satellite series- the National Polar-orbiting Operational Satellite
System, or NPOESS, and GOES-R.
"With
the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility, NOAA will continue as a leader
in satellite operations that provide real benefits to each American,"
said Mary E. Kizca, assistant administrator for the NOAA
Satellite and Information Service. (Click NOAA image for
larger view of NOAA image of new NOAA Satellite Operations Facility
in Suitland, Md. Click here for high
resolution version. Please credit �NOAA.�)
NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Commerce
Department, is celebrating 200
years of science and service to the nation. From the establishment
of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation
of the Weather Bureau and the Commission of Fish and Fisheries in the
1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.
NOAA is
dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through
the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and
providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine
resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems
(GEOSS), NOAA is working
with its federal partners and nearly 60 countries to develop a global
monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes.
Relevant Web Sites
NOAA
NOAA Satellite and Information
Service
Media
Contact:
John Leslie, NOAA Satellite and Information Service, (301) 713-1265
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