SatCam is an app for iOS devices where citizen scientists collect observations of cloud and surface conditions coordinated with an overpass of a polar orbiting satellite. SatCam—which supports the Terra, Aqua and Suomi NPP satellites—can be set up to notify the user 10 minutes prior to a satellite passing overhead.

After downloading the app, you can make a manual observation (and take a picture of the sky) or set your device down and let SatCam take the picture automatically. SatCam will submit the image to a server at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC). This helps researchers there check the quality of the cloud images they create from the satellite data. In return, the researchers send you the satellite image that was captured at your location, anywhere in the world.