Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
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Figure 8.6
Coverage of geostationary satellites and WMO data collection areas (rectangular areas and
numbers).
Source: Reproduced by courtesy of NOAA.
the atmosphere is collected as digital data or direct
readout visible and infrared images of cloud cover
and sea surface temperature, but it also includes
global temperature and moisture profiles through
the atmosphere obtained from multi-channel
infrared and microwave sensors, which receive
radiation emitted from particular levels in the
atmosphere. In addition, satellites have a data
collection system (DCS) that relays data on
numerous environmental variables from ground
platforms or ocean buoys to processing centers;
GOES can also transmit processed satellite images
in facsimile, and the NOAA polar orbiters have an
automatic picture transmission (APT) system that
is utilized at about 1000 stations worldwide.
weather forecasting did not become possible
until weather information could be collected,
assembled and processed rapidly. The first
development came in the mid-nineteenth century
with the invention of telegraphy, which permitted
immediate analysis of weather data by the drawing
of synoptic charts. These were first displayed in
Britain at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Severe
storm events and loss of life and property
prompted the development of weather forecasting
in Britain and North America in the 1860s-1870s.
Sequences of weather change were correlated with
barometric pressure patterns in both space and
time by such workers as Fitzroy and Abercromby,
but it was not until later that theoretical models
of weather systems were devised, notably the
Bjerknes depression model (see
Figure 9.7
).
Forecasts are usually referred to as short-range
(up to approximately three days), medium-range
(up to approximately 14 days), and long-range
(monthly or seasonal) outlooks. The first two may
for current purposes be considered together as
D NUMERICAL WEATHER
PREDICTION
General circulation models of all kinds are also
applied operationally to the day-to-day prediction
of weather at centers around the world. Modern
