Remote Sensing: Weather Satellites

Remote sensing is defined as the science of identifying, observing, and measuring an object without coming into direct contact with it. Remote Sensing originated when photography came about. It was going on for a while until it was first introduced in 1960 by Evelyn L. Pruitt of the U.S. Office of Naval Research. A satellite would detect and measure radiation of different wavelengths reflected or emitted from distant objects or materials. This data is sent to earth and computer systems translate it to an image.

Types of Remote Sensing:
Passive instruments only perceive radiation that is detected by natural energy.
Active instruments come with their own sources of EM energy and therefore are able to give light to the object of focus.

A satellite is a moon, planet or machine that orbits a planet or star. There are many types of satellites that are used to provide data for forecasting. Meteorologists use visible satellite images, infrared satellite images, and water vapor satellite images the most.

Satellites are designed in a complex manner but they all share an antenna and a power source. To collect data to forecast the weather, meteorologists would mainly focus on the two main types of satellites: GOES and POES.
- GOES stands for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite and they orbit the earth above its equator at an altitude about 36,000 km high.
-POES orbit at a lower altitude of about 850 km high and take an estimate of 100 minutes to travel from pole to pole.


Satellites are proven to save lives. COSPAS-SARSAT has been acknowledged for rescuing more than 27,000 lives