Weather Satellites and Orbits
Satellite Remote Sensing Instruments II
Sounders
The other type of radiometer flown on weather satellites is called a sounder. "Sounder" is
a shorter name for Vertical Atmospheric Sounder (VAS), don't let this
name mislead you, these radiometers measure infrared radiation, not
sound waves. Sounders provide vertical profiles of temperature, pressure, water vapor
and critical trace gases in the earth's atmosphere. Trace gas profiles such as carbon
dioxide or ozone are important for climate studies while temperature, water vapor and
pressure information are crucial to forecasting severe weather conditions long before
dangerous weather even develops.
Prior to satellites this information was only available from weather balloons launched
by meteorologists at one or two locations in each state twice a day. The increase in
data made available by sounders on weather satellites is truly astronomical in size.
Instead of having about 100 profiles of the atmosphere to analyze every day, scientists
now have an unlimited number of atmospheric profiles, primarily from polar-orbitting satellites.
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