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Satelite Lab

Mike Tobias
Greg Pope
Weather and Climate
10/17/2009
Lab 6
Objective is fourfold:
1. To describe the geographic areas covered by each of the present geostationary satellites.
2. Understand the differences between the different formats or “bands” in weather satellites.
3. To track cloud movement over the U.S. and in the Tropical and/or Severe Storms sector(s) for a five day period.
4. Explore the role of weather satellites in documenting various earth events, including those not related to weather.
1.) GOES East covers eastern North and South America. GOES West covers western North and South America including Hawaii and other Pacific Islands. Meteostat covers Africa, Europe, parts of western Asia and the Atlantic with parts of the Indian Ocean. MTSAT covers east Asia , Australia and the Pacific Ocean. The terminater can be seen on the GOES west full disk. It is visible on October 13th, 2009 at 1500z. It covers northwestern North America and the Pacific Ocean.
2.)The infrared shows better high altitude cloud coverage, while visible it makes it possible to see the terminater and be able to see the difference between night and day. The water vapor image shows the vapor in the air and the differences between wet and dry air. It also makes it visible to see what clouds carry rain.
3.) (From 8/4/2009 to 8/8/2009) At 0015z on Sunday October 4th, 2009 there were 2 major cloud coverage over the continental United States. One was along the Atlantic coastline from Canada to Puerto Rico. The other was toward the south. It covered from western Mexico to eastern Florida, and headed as far north as Kansas. . By 1515z the clouds moved northeast toward the Atlantic Ocean. The southern cloud coverage broke up quite a bit throughout the day.
On Monday October 5th, 2009 the eastern cloud mass moved east completely into the Atlantic Ocean except for a partial cloud mass over the northeastern tip of Canada, while the southern cloud coverage moved east over the south...