Satellite Meteorology

For Grade 7-12

5

Satellite Images

Anaylizing Water Vapor Satellite Images - I

A drawback of both visible and IR satellite images is that they rely on the presence of clouds and don’t provide much information about clear regions of the atmosphere. Fortunately there are satellite radiometers that measure other wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. The most common is a special channel near one of the infrared absorption bands of H20 that we call the “water vapor channel”.

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.