{"id":43355,"date":"2021-11-15T23:59:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T23:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/?p=43355"},"modified":"2021-11-18T19:05:47","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T19:05:47","slug":"goodbye-to-metop-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/archives\/43355","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye* to Metop-A"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/11\/AscendingData_MetopA_15Nov2021.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"658\" height=\"513\" src=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/11\/AscendingData_MetopA_15Nov2021.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43356\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/11\/AscendingData_MetopA_15Nov2021.png 658w, https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/11\/AscendingData_MetopA_15Nov2021-300x234.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 658px) 100vw, 658px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>ASCAT data from Metop-A, ascending passes, 15 November 2021 (Click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The polar orbiting satellite Metop-A was switched off on 15 November 2021, ending a very long career gathering information (the satellite was launched in 2006).  The final ASCAT (ascending) imagery from Metop-A, from <a href=\"https:\/\/manati.star.nesdis.noaa.gov\/datasets\/ASCATData.php\">this site<\/a>, is shown above (click <a href=\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/11\/DecendingData_MetopA_15Nov2021.png\">here<\/a> to see the descending data from that day).  ASCAT scatterometery from satellites operated by EUMETSAT will now be limited to Metop-B and Metop-C  (Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eumetsat.int\/plans-metop-end-life\">here<\/a> for more information on Metop-A in the near future; click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eumetsat.int\/our-satellites\/metop-series\">here<\/a> for information on Metop satellites).  ASCAT data is obviously important for defining wind features over the open ocean, where conventional data is sparse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The loss of Metop-A ASCAT data means a 50% reduction in the scatterometery data assimilated into US Numerical models. Only Metop-B ASCAT data are now assimilated;  work continues on incorporating Metop-C ASCAT data into assimilation schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Metop-A also carried AVHRR, IASI, HIRS, AMSU and MHS instruments.  Metop-C is Metop-A&#8217;s replacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p>*Metop-A does continue to supply some (non-ASCAT) information to NESDIS (my thanks to Liam Gumley, SSEC, for this information!)  as shown at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov\/icvs\/status_MetOPA_AVHRR.php\">this website<\/a>.  Not all instruments have (as yet) been switched off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The polar orbiting satellite Metop-A was switched off on 15 November 2021, ending a very long career gathering information (the satellite was launched in 2006). The final ASCAT (ascending) imagery from Metop-A, from this site, is shown above (click here to see the descending data from that day). ASCAT scatterometery from satellites operated by EUMETSAT [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":43356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-metop","category-satellite-winds"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43355"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43361,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43355\/revisions\/43361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}