Weather satellite

A spacecraft that observes Earth’s atmosphere, clouds, and surface from orbit to support weather monitoring and forecasting.

Geostationary orbit: An orbit above Earth’s equator in which a satellite circles at the same rate as Earth rotates, appearing fixed in the sky. Satellites in this orbit continuously watch the same broad region.
Numerical weather prediction: Weather forecasting that uses mathematical models of the atmosphere, initialized with observations. Satellite measurements help define the starting atmospheric state for model forecasts.
Geostationary weather satellite: A weather satellite in geostationary orbit that repeatedly observes the same broad region. It provides rapid updates over a fixed region, unlike global polar coverage.
TIROS-1: The first successful weather satellite, launched by the United States in 1960. Its cloud images demonstrated that orbiting cameras could support weather observation.
Sun-synchronous orbit: A near-polar orbit that keeps a satellite’s angle to the Sun nearly constant as it crosses each region. Weather satellites in this orbit revisit the globe at consistent local times.
Tropical cyclone monitoring: The observation and assessment of tropical cyclones as they form and develop. Frequent satellite images track storm structure where surface observations are sparse.
Polar-orbiting weather satellite: A weather satellite in a near-polar orbit that observes successive swaths of Earth as the planet rotates beneath it. It provides global coverage, but revisits a location less frequently than geostationary systems.
GOES: The United States’ series of geostationary operational environmental satellites. GOES missions provide persistent observations over the Americas and adjacent oceans.
Radiometer: An instrument that measures electromagnetic radiation across specified wavelengths. Radiometers detect emitted and reflected energy used to infer atmospheric conditions.
Atmospheric sounding: Measurement of atmospheric temperature, humidity, or other properties through vertical layers. Sounders aboard weather satellites provide vertical profiles for forecasting.

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