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Satellite Meteorology and Climatology Division

Mission Statement

SMCD conducts research and develops new satellite products to improve and expand the use of satellite data for monitoring global meteorological, environmental and climatological conditions. The Division conducts an end-to-end program ranging from planning new satellite instruments to developing new satellite products and applications and transitioning these developments to operations in NOAA's weather, climate, and environmental monitoring and prediction systems. Most of the Division's research and development falls in the following discipline areas:

  • Atmospheric variables - temperature, humidity, winds
  • Land surface variables - vegetation, snow and ice cover
  • Hydrological Cycle variables - precipitation, clouds, water vapor
  • Environmental hazards - aviation hazards, air quality, fires, heavy rainfall and flash floods, drought
  • Climate variables - ozone, Earth radiation budget, aerosols, greenhouse gases

In addition to developing new and improved products, we conduct the following crosscutting activities:

  • Calibrating satellite instruments
  • Transitioning research products to operational production
  • Developing radiative transfer models for the National Weather Service (NWS) Numerical Weather
  • Prediction (NWP) satellite data assimilation systems
  • Developing and analyzing long-term satellite data sets for studying and assessing climate change
  • Planning and preparing for new satellite instruments

To execute its activities, SMCD has an active visiting scientist program, an extensive task order contract support system, and access to Cooperative Institutes via grants, which provides scientists and software specialists to support the SMCD investigators. Its scientists also collaborate with colleagues both nationally and internationally.

SMC Shield

Satellite Meteorology and
Climatology Division (SMCD)
2008 Annual Report

Download SMCD's FY2008 Annual Report (PDF, 3.5MB)

Message from Mitch Goldberg, Chief, Satellite Meteorology and Climatology Division

On behalf of the Satellite Meteorology and Climatology Division (SMCD), it is my pleasure to present the Fiscal Year 2008 Report. This report summarizes the major activities and accomplishments within my division throughout the year.

As an organization focused on the research and development of new satellite products, SMCD is actively engaged and committed to improve and expand the use of satellite data for monitoring global meteorological, environmental and climatological conditions.

I am very proud to share this report on our accomplishments, which include the Division's completed tasks, highlights from workshops and meetings attended, published papers, and training provided during the 2008 Fiscal Year.

We contributed to the Center for Satellite Applications and Research's (STAR) mission through the following outcomes:

  • Ensuring high quality calibrated observations and products
    • Calibrating and intercalibrating sensors on NOAA and METOP satellites,
    • Developing cal/val plans for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), the NPOESS Preparatory Program (NPP), and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R) satellites
    • Providing essential contributions to the Global Space-based InterCalibration System (GSICS), the NOAA Integrated Sounding Product Validation System, and the Simultaneous Nadir Observations (SNO) technique for satellite intercalibration, etc.
  • Improved utilization of satellite observations
    • Advanced GOME-2 NO2 products
    • Satellite-derived biomass burning data
    • Near real time monitoring of smoke plumes from the October 2007 California wildfires
    • Demonstration of the efficacy of STAR'S Vegetation Health time series in monitoring droughts, mapping regions of malaria outbreaks, and estimating crop yields.
  • Transition to Operations: Products below were transitioned to NESDIS Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution (OSDPD)
    • Greenhouse gas products
    • METOP GOME-2 O3 Product
    • Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MIRS) Updates
    • Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Polar Wind Product
    • METOP Level-2 IASI Products
  • Future Operational Satellite Observing Systems (NPOESS and GOES-R)
    • Delivered forty-two GOES-R Draft Algorithm Theoretical Basis Documents (ATBD)
    • Leading development of NPOESS Data Exploitation (NDE) NOAA unique products
    • Moving towards Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) level three maturity for algorithm and systems development.
  • National and International Collaborations:
    • Continuing collaborations with many NOAA Programs: Air Quality, Climate, and Weather and Water. In addition we had international collaboration with NWP centers, the conference on Earth Observations for Sustainable Development and Security and MOA signing in Ukraine, the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites Working Group on Calibration and Validation (CEOS Cal/Val), CEOS Strategic implementation Team (SIT), Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS), WMO GSICS, and the Atmospheric Observation Panel for Climate (AOPC).
    • Education, Outreach and Training: JCSDA Data Assimilation Training Workshop, and the SMCD Student Mentorship Program.