A new weather satellite was sucessfully launched early this morning aboard a Delta 2 rocket. With clear skies in place, the satellite blasted into the sky from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. The NOAA-N Prime is the fifth and last in a series of five polar-orbiting satellites. It will bring improved imaging and sounding capabilities to weather forecasters across the planet. Weather satellites have been in place since 1960.
The NOAA-Prime will provide global images of clouds and surface features along with being able to look at ozone distribution in the upper portions of our atmosphere. Also... it will provide critical profiles vertically of atmospheric temperatures and moisture. This data will be used in computer forecasting models as well as helping forecasters with short term weather predictions.
As we improve our observational platforms here on the earth's surface and well high up in earth's orbit... this should lead to improved forecasts and most importantly... improved severe weather warnings which we believe will save lives and reduce property damage.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement