The first images from the European Space Agency’s MTG-S satellite offer an early look at how the mission will improve weather forecasting across Europe and Northern Africa.
The first images from the European Space Agency’s MTG-S satellite offer an early look at how the mission will improve weather forecasting across Europe and Northern Africa.What do you see when you look up at the sky? Whether you find clear blue stillness or rolling storm clouds, you’re barely catching a glimpse of the incredibly complex dynamics playing out overhead.
But when viewed from above by a cutting-edge The first images from the European Space Agency’s Meteosat Third Generation-Sounder 1 satellite offer a stunning view of Earth’s atmospheric chaos. This satellite, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in July, uses atechnique called “infrared sounding” to capture data on temperature, humidity, wind, and trace gases that scientists will eventually use to generate 3D maps of the atmosphere. The new images, taken on November 15, include both temperature and humidity maps of the atmosphere above Europe and Northern Africa. The satellite’s geostationary position above the equator allows it to maintain a fixed position relative to Earth and follow this region as the planet rotates, providing new data every 30 minutes. That MTG-S1 can capture such exquisite detail from its perch so far above our planet is impressive; geostationary satellites aren’t exactly close, working some 22,000 miles from Earth. “Seeing the first Infrared Sounder images from the MTG-Sounder satellite really brings this mission and its potential to life,” Simonetta Cheli, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes,The satellite’s infrared sounder is the first instrument of its kind to operate from geostationary orbit, according to ESA. It observes the atmosphere in 1,700 narrow wavelength bands across theto detect the distribution, circulation, and temperature of water vapor in the atmosphere. The instrument captured the humidity image above using its medium-wave infrared channel. Blue areas correspond to areas of higher humidity, while red signals lower humidity. The driest regions of the atmosphere—those in dark red—are located over the Sahara Desert and the Middle East at the top of the image and over the South Atlantic Ocean at the center of the image. Dark blue, high-humidity regions are concentrated over East Africa and near the poles. To create the temperature image below, MTG-S1 used the infrared sounder’s long-wave infrared channel. This measures temperatures at Earth’s surface and at the. The warmest areas, shown in dark red, mainly appear over land surfaces, while cold, dark blue areas typically correspond to clouds.It will come as no surprise that the warmest areas are located over Africa and South America—you can actually make out the coastline of western Africa in the top center of the image. In the bottom right, the western coasts of Namibia and South Africa are also shown in red beneath the curve of a cold cloud shown in blue.Improving the accuracy of real-time weather forecasting and storm tracking is critical in a rapidly changing climate. As rising global temperaturessatellite-based weather forecasting and storm tracking . MTG-S1 is the second satellite launched as part of this program, which will eventually include six weather satellites. The first, Meteosat Third Generation-Imager 1 ,Together, these two satellites are already providing meteorologists with a more complete picture of Earth’s weather system and its ever-changing behavior. ESA officials say they will also help forecasters predict extreme weather events earlier than ever before, giving communities more time to prepare for impacts.Forecast Map Reveals Which East Coast States Should Brace for More Snow This WeekendIt’s looking increasingly likely that a coastal storm could bring more snow to the East Coast this weekend—and potentially strengthen into a bomb cyclone.Ellyn LapointeA warming Arctic set the stage for a massive winter storm expected to stretch 2,000 miles across the Eastern U.S. this weekend.The storm will usher in frigid temperatures and spread heavy snow and ice across a 2,000-mile stretch of the country.
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