Satellite Meteorology

For Grade 7-12

10

The GOES-R and JPSS Satellite Era

JPSS

While similar to the Suomi NPP, JPSS will also monitor rescue beacons to help save lives through the international Search And Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) program. JPSS will be a joint venture between NOAA and NASA as part of a government restructuring effort to provide better, more efficient service with less cost to tax-payers.

According to NOAA, "JPSS will allow scientists and forecasters to monitor and predict weather patterns with greater speed and accuracy and is key for continuity of long-standing climate measurements, allowing study of long-term climate trends. JPSS will improve and extend climate measurements for 30 different Environmental Data Records of the atmosphere, land, ocean, climate, and space environment."

The first generation JPSS satellite, JPSS-1 launched in 2017 and has been renamed NOAA-20. The JPSS-2 satellite launched in November 2022 and renamed NOAA-21. You can access VIIRS data from NOAA-20, NOAA-21 and the Suomi-NPP satellite via VIIRS Today and the VIIRS Imagery Viewer. JPSS-3 is scheduled for launch in 2026.

This Satellite Meteorology Course was developed at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) located within the Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) at the UW-Madison. Funding was provided by the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium (WSGC) and NOAA/NESDIS.