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Category: Other Satellites

Low-Earth Orbit satellite views of Ian as it formed, and comparisons to Geostationary imagery

Polar-orbiting satellites have microwave detectors that give important information about the low-level structure of an evolving tropical cyclone. If high clouds are omnipresent, it can be difficult for an analyst to diagnose storm strength with accuracy. Microwave energy penetrates clouds, however, and low-earth orbit (LEO) observations of microwave frequencies can... Read More

Center-fixing a storm with SAR and SSMIS data

Sentinel overflew Tropical Storm Gaston, northwest of the Azores Islands, shortly before 0800 UTC on 23 September 2022, as shown above. The Beaufort Scale enhancement suggest peak winds derived from SAR observations to be very close to 50 knots in curved bands to the east/southeast of the center, inferred to... Read More

Comparisons of LIS and GLM Lightning observations

The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) on GOES-16 and the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS, additional information here) on the International Space Station (ISS) both observe lightning. The GLM has nadir resolution of approximately 8 km, and is in geostationary orbit, about 36000 km above the Earth’s surface. In contrast, the LIS... Read More