Remote Sensing

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Remote Sensing
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Satellites

• Provide gross Temperature, Humidity soundings
• Provide images of clouds
• We havent missed a Hurricane since satellites
  went on-line
• For the most part passive digital cameras

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Satellite Retrievals

• Both low orbiters and geosynchronous satellite
  instruments scan and report number of photons at
  energies

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Satellite Retrievals

• Footprint is larger at ends of scans than it is
  at nadir so corrections must be made
• Corrections needed as spacecraft wobbles and
  nutates
• In some cases rubber sheeting is needed to
  match cities with their image counterparts.
• May be done on board or done on the ground and
  relayed back to the satellite for distribution

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WSR-88D Radar

• Very useful for finding out where precip is and
  how storms are moving
• Now gives velocity of movement towards or away
  from radar site

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Surface Based Radar Basics

• Reasonably simple transmitter sends out a
  pulse, the EM wave is reflected or scattered back
  to the antenna and the time it takes to get back
  gives the distance away

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WSR-88D Transmission Cone
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WSR-88D Beam Elevations
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Problems with knowing where data are taken
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Profilers

• Upward looking radar units
• Measure three components of the wind at various
  elevations
• Potential for measuring particle size
  distributions from fall speed distributions

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404 mHz Profiler Antenna
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449 mHz Profiler Antenna
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Profilers do need to be kept clean of snow
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Antenna electronic configuration
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64 mHz Profiler
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S Band Profiler
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Various Radar Bands
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The Future of Remote Sensing