50th Anniversary of the Satellite that “Forever Changed Weather Forecasting”

Fifty years ago today, the world’s first weather satellite lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and opened a new and exciting dimension in weather forecasting. Top leaders from NOAA and NASA hailed the milestone as an example of their agencies’ strong partnership and commitment to flying the best satellites today and beyond.

The first image from the satellite, known as TIROS-1 (Television Infrared Observation Satellite), was a fuzzy picture of thick bands and clusters of clouds over the United States. An image captured a few days later revealed a typhoon about a 1,000 miles east of Australia. TIROS-1, a polar-orbiting satellite, weighed 270 pounds and carried two cameras and two video recorders. Though the satellite only lasted 78 days, its impact is still visible today.

“This satellite forever changed weather forecasting,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “Since TIROS-1, meteorologists have far greater information about severe weather and can issue more accurate forecasts and warnings that save lives and protect property.”

"TIROS-1 started the satellite observations and interagency collaborations that produced vast improvements in weather forecasts," said NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr. "It also laid the foundation for our current global view of Earth that underlies all of climate research and the field of Earth system science."

High resolution (Credit: NASA)
Throughout the 1960s, each TIROS spacecraft carried increasingly advanced instruments and technology. By 1965, meteorologists combined 450 TIROS images into the first global view of the world’s weather.

In 1975, the first Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) was launched 22,300 miles into space. Its ability to orbit in sync with the Earth’s rotation, combined with the polar-orbiting satellites enhanced NOAA’s forecasting.

“We could not provide skillful hurricane forecasts without the crucial imagery and data from geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites,” said Chris Landsea, Ph.D., science operations officer at NOAA’s National Hurricane Center in Miami. “Before satellites, tropical storms and hurricanes were often missed if they stayed out over the open ocean.”

When the more advanced TIROS-N satellite series were launched between 1978 and 1981, the name of the spacecraft changed to Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites, or POES. The POES orbit the Earth at an altitude of about 500 miles and circle the poles once every 102 minutes.

With continued improvements of the instruments and technology, the satellites began giving scientists the ability to track changes in climate – from the subtle

onset of drought and its impacts on vegetation, to monitoring global sea-surface temperatures that signal atmospheric phenomena, such as El Niño and La Niña.

“Securing critical climate data records from the advanced sensors flying on NOAA satellites helps us understand the Earth's changing climate,” said Tom Karl, who heads the emerging NOAA Climate Service. “For 50 years, NOAA satellites have advanced our ability to monitor the Earth's climate and will continue to provide critical data in the years to come.”

High resolution (Credit: NASA)
The last of the TIROS satellites (now known as POES), launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2009. This satellite (NOAA-19) and its compliment, a European satellite called Metop-A, provide a complete picture of the globe every six hours.

A Look to the Future
NOAA operates America’s constellation of environmental satellites – the GOES and POES. Both satellites monitor weather and collect data about the Earth’s climate, and are capable of receiving distress signals from emergency beacons and relaying this information to first responders worldwide. Since 1982, NOAA satellites have aided in the rescue of 250 people on average each year. NOAA satellites also receive signals from remote observation instruments on the Earth including ocean buoys, which provide tsunami warnings.

Through the NOAA-NASA partnership, another polar-orbiting satellite called the National Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project is scheduled to launch in late 2011. On February 1, 2010, the White House announced NPOESS, a tri-agency effort between NOAA, NASA and the Department of Defense, would be restructured. The NOAA-NASA team will build, launch and operate two more polar satellites under the Joint Polar Satellite System. The satellites, planned to launch 2015 and 2017, will handle the afternoon orbit and provide vital information on climate and weather.

NOAA and NASA are also working to launch the next generation GOES-R series of satellites, beginning in 2015. These spacecraft will have four times the clarity of today’s GOES and provide more than 20 times the information.

“For the next 50 years, we’re ensuring that NOAA satellites will always be ready to provide the imagery and data scientists, the U.S. and the world have come to rely on,” said Mary Kicza, assistant administrator for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service.

NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.

Hurricane Fred gets stronger far out over Atlantic

MIAMI — Hurricane Fred has quickly strengthened to a Category 2 storm but remains far out in the eastern Atlantic with no signs it will threaten land.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Fred could become a major hurricane later on Wednesday. The storm's projected five-day path will keep it over the open ocean until it loses steam.

Fred's maximum sustained winds have increased to near 105 mph. Forecasters say it could become a major hurricane, meaning top sustained winds of more than 110 mph.
The storm is centered about 500 miles west-southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands and moving west-northwest near 13 mph.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Linda is drifting slowly far out over the Pacific with maximum sustained winds near 65 mph.

Hurricane Danny (1997)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Atlantic hurricane in 1997. For other storms of the same name, see Hurricane Danny was the only hurricane to make landfall in the United States during the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season, and the second hurricane and fourth tropical storm of the season. The system became the earliest 5th tropical or subtropical storm of the Atlantic season when it reached tropical storm strength on July 17, and held that record until the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season when Tropical Storm Emily broke that record by several days. Like the previous four tropical or subtropical cyclones of the season, Danny had a non-tropical origin, after a trough spawned convection that entered the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Danny had an extended northeast track through the Gulf of Mexico, caused by two high pressure systems, a rare occurrence in the middle of July. The storm moved across the southeastern United States, after making landfall in the Gulf Coast, and affected parts of Massachusetts with rain and wind.




Danny is noted for the extreme rainfall, tornadoes, and damage it produced on its path, causing four direct fatalities and $100 million (1997 USD, $128 million 2007 USD) in damage. The storm dropped a record amount of rainfall for Alabama, at least 36.71 inches (932 mm) on Dauphin Island. Flooding, power outages, and erosion occurred in many areas of the Gulf Coast, and rescues from flooded roads had to be performed. Various tornadoes on the East Coast caused a great amount of damage. Danny caused one death off the coast of Alabama, four deaths in Georgia, two deaths in South Carolina, and two deaths in North Carolina.

LOOK OUT! HERE IT COMES!

Tropical Storm DannyHurricane DannyHurricane Danny 2009


Tropical disturbance in the western Atlantic is developing a well-defined center of circulation and very likely will be designated Tropical Storm Danny later today, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm has top winds of 45 mph and is moving to the west-northwest at 18 mph. As of 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday, the storm’s center was about 445 miles (715 kilometers) east of Nassau, Bahamas and about 775 miles (1,250 kilometers) south of Cape Hatteras, N.C.

The current forecast has the storm on a path to clip the U.S. East Coast over the weekend, but a storm’s track can be difficult to predict days in advance. People in the Bahamas and the southeastern U.S. are advised to monitor the storm.

Meanwhile, far out in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Ignacio has weakened as it moves northwest with top winds of 45 mph.

Danny previously was used to name a July 1997 hurricane that brought record rain fall for Alabama, at least 36.71 inches on Dauphin Island. That storm was the only hurricane to make landfall in the United States during the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season.

Tropical wave brewing....expected to become Hurricane Danny

TAMPA – Forecasters seem confident the season’s fourth named Atlantic storm could appear today.

A tropical wave about 470 miles east of the Bahamas has the potential to become a tropical depression or storm at anytime as it enters a section of ocean where high level winds and water temperatures will make things cozy for a developing storm.

A hurricane hunter aircraft has been dispatched to explore the disturbance that is developing a well-defined circulation, a sign it’s working up to a tropical cyclone.

Forecasters believe the tropical wave will skip the depression level and go straight to a tropical storm.

Intensity models run early today already have the disturbance at tropical storm strength.
Most of those models also have the storm reaching hurricane strength around Sunday, though all project it staying below Category 2 strength.

It is heading to the west-northwest at about 15 mph, the National Hurricane Center says.
None of the track models have the system threatening Florida, but folks farther north on the East Coast may need to pay attention.

The track models are fairly well clustered and generally predict the storm will pass north of the Bahamas and curve toward Bermuda, similar to the path taken by Hurricane Bill, although the model tracks take the storm closer to the United States coast than Bill.

Some of the models have the storm going near the Carolinas or Virginia, but most show it heading toward the Canadian Maritimes by the end of the weekend.

If it becomes a storm, it would be named Danny.