Eyes in the Sky
Of course, even the best radars cannot see over mountains or out into the oceans, where hurricanes form. Forecasters rely on satellites for these situations and also rely on them to provide broader data that supplement the localized information from a given radar. NOAA’s weather satellites supply more than 90 percent of the data that go into daily and long-range forecasts, and they are critical in providing alerts of severe weather potential multiple days in advance. To improve the delivery of this essential environmental intelligence, NOAA will deploy a range of new technologies in the next five years.
Without more detailed satellite observations, extending the range of accurate weather forecasts—especially for such extreme events as hurricanes—would be severely restricted. Monitoring weather requires two types of satellites: geostationary and polar-orbiting. Geostationary satellites, which stay fixed in one spot at an altitude of about 22,000 miles, transmit near-continuous views of the earth’s surface. Using loops of pictures taken at 15-minute intervals, forecasters can monitor rapidly growing storms or detect changes in hurricanes (but not tornadoes).
Polar satellites, which orbit the earth from pole to pole at an altitude of approximately 515 miles, give closer, more detailed observations of the temperature and humidity of different layers of the atmosphere. A worldwide set of these low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites covers the entire globe every 12 hours.
NOAA plans to launch a new series of LEO satellites this decade, as part of the Joint Polar Satellite System, with updated hardware, fitted with more sophisticated instruments. Their data will be used in computer models to improve weather forecasts, including hurricane tracks and intensities, severe thunderstorms and floods. The suite of advanced microwave and infrared sensors will relay much improved three-dimensional information on the atmosphere’s temperature, pressure and moisture, because rapid changes in temperature and moisture, combined with low pressure, signify a strong storm. Infrared sensors provide these measurements in cloud-free areas, and microwave sensors can “see through clouds” to the earth’s surface.
In April 2011, five days before a powerful storm system tore through six southern states, NOAA’s current polar-orbiting satellites provided data that, when fed into models, prompted the NOAA Storm Prediction Center to forecast “a potentially historic tornado outbreak.” The center elevated the risk to the highest level at midnight before the event. This level of outlook is reserved for the most extreme cases, with the least uncertainty, and is only used when the possibility for extremely explosive storms is detected. The new LEO satellites should allow such predictions as much as five to seven days before a storm.
Geostationary satellites will improve, too. Advanced instruments that will image the earth every five minutes in both visible and infrared wavelengths will be onboard the GOES-R series of satellites to be launched in 2015. They will increase observations from every 15 minutes to every five minutes or less, allowing scientists to monitor the rapid intensification of severe storms. The GOES-R satellites will also provide the world’s first space view of where lightning is occurring in the Western Hemisphere. The lightning mapper will help forecasters detect jumps in the frequency of in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning flashes. Research suggests that these jumps occur up to 20 minutes or more before hail, severe winds and even tornadoes.
Billions of Data
Each of the new radar technologies and satellites could improve warning times by several minutes, but incorporating the data derived from all these systems into forecasting computer models could provide even more time. Warnings for tornadoes, for example, could be issued up to an hour in advance. That is the kind of lead time that would have made a big difference in Joplin.
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs an expert in the field, I can say unequivocally that the claims of the authors on the value of satellite data, especially from the polar orbiters, for warnings of severe weather 5-7 days in advance are excessively hyped and not sufficiently substantiated.
Moreover, the authors would have you believe that forecasts of this sort require just plugging in more and more satellite data into computer weather prediction models and, wa-la, early warnings of extreme weather. The fact is that for a fraction of the cost of a single satellite, increased investments focused on accelerating improvements in weather models and systems would almost certainly yield greater gains in forecast accuracy and reliability (more bang for the buck).
New to me are Weather Radar Circles.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI can see were these could be used in deciphering the path and strength of Tornado.
Guessing, but I think the understanding of these would give a 24 to 48 hour Tornado warning.
http://www.physforum.com/index.php?showtopic=11462&st=0
If grid spacing is so important for tornado prediction, why not use dynamic grid spacing? If most of the atmosphere is relatively calm, and can be modeled with a large grid spacing, then volumes containing potential tornadoes could have their grid spacing dramatically reduced for a very small computational cost.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt looks to me like better decision making on the part of people would help too. When a resident says on the news that they all took shelter in the bathroom and we see pictures of a former house that is less than a foot high, does it not seem appropriate that the old-fashioned storm cellar would be a better idea? The tornado didn't dig holes; it only took away what was sticking up from the earth (like homes, cars, people). Am I missing something?
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