METOP
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NPOESS eliminates climate data collection
'Serious jeopardy' for U.S. climate studies - Climate Change - MSNBC.com
"... U.S. scientists will soon lose much of their ability to monitor warming from space using a costly and problem-plagued satellite initiative begun more than a decade ago.
"Because of technology glitches and a near-doubling in the original $6.5 billion cost, the Defense Department has decided to downsize and launch four satellites paired into two orbits, instead of six satellites and three orbits.
The satellites were intended to gather weather and climate data, replacing existing satellites as they come to the end of their useful lifetimes beginning in the next couple of years.
"The reduced system of four satellites will now focus on weather forecasting. Most of the climate instruments needed to collect more precise data over long periods are being eliminated.
"Instead, the Pentagon and two partners — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA — will rely on European satellites for most of the climate data."
Comments
Alex 22:54, 8 June 2007 (EST)
"European satellites" could mean one satellite, Meteosat Second Generation. It's geostationary, 22,000 miles away -- forget about high spatial resolution, or polar or even global coverage, although high temporal resolution is possible. This US problem dates back to 1994, and a long-running territorial dispute over meteorological satellites, which resulted in a Really Bad Idea becoming The Plan:
The specifics as I read them last year:
National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS): US next generation meteorology and climatology satellite, to be operated jointly by DoD and NOAA. Presidential Directive NTSC-2 (1994) combines NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) environmental monitoring program and DoD Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). Estimated launch date for the first NPOESS satellite, "C1" or "Charlie 1" is around 2010, but more likely 2014. Instruments planned include:
- New NOAA sensors under development
- VIIRS Visible/Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite - visible and infrared radiometric data of the Earth's atmosphere, ocean, and land surfaces: atmospheric, clouds, Earth radiation budget, land/water and sea surface temperature, ocean color, and low light imagery.
- CMIS Conical Microwave Imager/Sounder - global microwave radiometry and sounding data, microwave imagery and other meteorological and oceanographic data.
- CrIS Crosstrack Infrared Sounder - determine the vertical distribution of temperature, moisture, and pressure in the atmosphere.
- OMPS Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite - Collects data to permit the calculation of the vertical and horizontal distribution of ozone in the Earth's atmosphere.
- SESS Space Environment Sensor Suite. Collects data related to the neutral and charged particles, electron and magnetic fields, and optical signatures of aurora.
- APS Aerosol Polarimeter Sensor - retrieve specified aerosol and cloud parameters using multispectral photopolarimetry in orthogonal polarizations over a range of viewing angles
- Sensors being developed by other agencies
- ATMS Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (currently under development by NASA) - In conjunction with CrIS, global observations of temperature and moisture profiles at high temporal resolution (~ daily).
- Sensor payloads similar to existing instruments
- DCS Data Collection System: similar to ARGOS DCS on POES, measures environmental factors such as atmospheric temperature and pressure, and the velocity and direction of the ocean and wind currents.
- ERBS Earth Radiation Budget Sensor - similar to ERBE and CERES
- CERES — Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System. Part of NASA's EOS, CERES products include both solar-reflected and Earth-emitted radiation from the top of the atmosphere to the Earth's surface. Cloud properties are determined using simultaneous measurements by other EOS instruments such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).
- RADAR Altimeter - similar to Jason-1
- SARSAT Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking - relay distress signals from emergency beacons to a network of ground stations and control center
- TSIS Total Solar Irradiance Sensor - total solar irradiance monitor plus a 0.2- 2 micron solar spectral irradiance monitor by University of Colorado Labratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)
NPOESS instrument programs have been reduced due to budget overruns and cutbacks. “The sensors to be dropped include the Conical Scanning Microwave Imager/Sounder, the solar irradiance sensor, the aerosol detector, as well as one of the two ozone mapping and profiler suites.” (Science 16 June 2006) NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) tests the remaining new instruments on a satellite planned to be launched in 2006 but more likely 2008:
- Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS)
- Cross-track Microwave Infrared Sounder (CMIS)
- Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)
- Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS).
METOP
But there is one very new European polar meteorology and climatology observation satellite, METOP:
http://eu.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=16832
MetOp-A is the first of a series of three satellites that will be launched at 4.5 year intervals to provide 14 years of operation. They constitute the space segment for the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS), which in conjunction with the US POES satellites provides global meteorological coverage from low Earth orbit.
http://www.eumetsat.int/Home/Main/Media/Press_Releases/006730?l=en
All MetOp satellites are developed by a joint EUMETSAT and European Space Agency (ESA) team, with EADS Astrium as the prime contractor. A total of 11 instruments are aboard the MetOp satellites, which are provided by EUMETSAT, ESA, the French Space Agency (CNES), and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Instruments on MetOp
- A/DCS (Advanced Data Collection System)
- AMSU-A1 and AMSU-A2
- ASCAT Advanced Scatterometer
- AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer)
- GOME-2 (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment) — instrument to monitor ozone levels
- GRAS (Global navigation satellite systems radio occulation GNSS Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding)
- HIRS (High Resolution Infrared Sounder)
- IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer)
- MHS (Microwave Humidity Sounder)
- SARP-3 and SARR (Search And Rescue Processor og Search And Rescue Repeater)
- SEM (Space Environment Monitor)
With any luck METOP's AVHRR instruments will be able to continue the low-resolution time series archive provided by NOAA for many years.
Jason-2
There is also a separate EUMETSAT mission, the Jason-2 oceanographic radiometer and altimeter based on Jason-1, successor to TOPEX/Poseidon:
"The US-French Jason-2 mission is in a planning stage and will eventually measure the altimetry of the global ocean surface. Jason-2 is planned to fly at an altitude of around 1300 km. The main instruments on board are a radar altimeter, a microwave radiometer, and orbit determination systems. The aim is to measure the global sea surface height to an accuracy of a few cm every 10 days, for determining ocean circulation, climate change and sea level rise."
