Transcript Document 7433081

SSEC Satellite Imagery:
Then and Now
Jean M. Phillips, Librarian
Space Science & Engineering Center
University of Wisconsin-Madison
July 2006
What will we talk about?
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The Father of Satellite Meteorology
Applications Technology Satellites (ATS)
Spin-Scan camera
Images and movies
Web sites and books for further study
Father of Satellite Meteorology
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Verner E. Suomi
Inventor of Spin-Scan Camera which
allowed continuous viewing of weather
from space over a large fraction of Earth’s
surface
Suomi understood benefits of observing
single weather events at frequent
intervals
ATS-I Spacecraft: 1966
ATS-III Spacecraft: 1967
From: The Applications Technology Satellite Meteorological Data Catalog: Volume I)
Spin-Scan Camera
From: The Applications Technology Satellite Meteorological Data Catalog: Volume
How did it work?
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Suomi used the spin of the satellite to
scan the earth – 2400 satellite revolutions
needed to produce one Earth image
The camera scanned a small strip of the
Earth with each rotation, tilting slightly
for the next rotation (or line of the
picture)
One Earth image created every
20 minutes
Why is it important to know what
the weather will do?
18 November 1967 movie
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The first full day of good, color pictures
from the ATS-III
How we view satellite images
today
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http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/east
/animation/goeseastvis.html
Satellite Books and Web Sites
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Cobb, Allan B. Weather Observation Satellites. Rosen Publishing,
2003. (Grades 5-8)
Knapp, Brian J. What satellites see. Grolier, 2004.
Satellite meteorology for grades 7-12. CIMSS, UW-Madison:
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satmet/
Satellites: An historical look at each civilian weather satellite
launched by the United States. Florida State University:
http://www.met.fsu.edu/explores/satellites/
Satellites and space. NOAA:
http://www.education.noaa.gov/sspace.html
How do you make a weather satellite? NASA, NOAA:
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/112194main_weather_satellite_booklet
.pdf