Monday 12 March 2018

NASA’s Role In Weather Forecasting

Image source: NASA.gov
Earth science is one area of focus of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which includes studying Earth’s weather system such as the dynamics of the atmosphere and its interaction with the land and oceans. Through its expertise and technology, weather, ranging from local to microphysical processes, can be predicted with a fair degree of success at about a maximum of two weeks prior.

NASA deems improved knowledge of weather processes and phenomena a crucial ingredient of understanding Earth further. In addition, there is an infrastructure in the United States for operational meteorology at NOAA, the FAA, the DoD, and other agencies requiring the introduction of new technologies and knowledge that only NASA can develop.

NASA contributes to national weather forecasting goals primarily through developing and using data from space-based sensors. For over two decades, satellite-based profiles of temperature and moisture have been regularly used in forecasting, while new NASA sensors promise to upgrade accuracy and spatial resolution.

Image source: ClimateCentral.org
Other technologies supporting weather, as developed by NASA’s earth science division, include the In-Space Validation of Earth Science Technologies (InVEST) program (RainCube and CIRis) and the EV class missions such as CYGNSS and TROPICS.

As a recent development, NASA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) comprises four weather satellites that will provide advanced forecasting on not only hurricanes but also dangerous weather events that threaten communities across the country.

Weatherman Jim Byrne is a consulting meteorologist at the Weather Channel program “So you think you’d survive.” An alumnus of San Jose State University, he had also been the chief meteorologist for KCOY CBS-12 and a freelance weekend meteorologist at NBC Bay Area. Read more on this page.




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