1. Introduction
Overview of The Satellite Meteorology and Climatology Division
Setting within NOAA
The Satellite Meteorology and Climatology Division (SMCD) is one of three
Units in the Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR). STAR is the
science arm of NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service
(NESDIS) and provides leadership, guidance, and direction for NESDIS research,
development, and applications activities with respect to satellites and satellite
data. The main objectives of the STAR are to ensure that satellite remote sensing
data and information products are of the highest quality possible and to enhance
their utilization to enable NOAA to fulfill its mission to understand and predict
changes in Earth's environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine
resources to meet our Nation's economic, social, and environmental needs. STAR
conducts research and develops satellite products for meteorological,
climatological, oceanographic, and land surface applications by NOAA's
operational and research components. Aside from the MCD, the STAR includes
the Satellite Oceanography Division (SOD), which provides the primary research
and development support for oceanic remote sensing within NOAA and a Cooperative
Research Program (CoRP) that provides oversight, management, and direction to a
coast-to-coast government and university-based research coalition for remote
sensing of the environment.
NESDIS Mission
NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)
is dedicate to providing timely access to global environmental data from
satellites and other sources to promote, protect, and enhance the Nation's
economy, security, environment, and quality of life.
To fulfill its responsibilities, NESDIS acquires and manages the Nation's
operational environmental satellites, provides data and information services,
and conducts related research.
Mission
SMCD conducts research and develops new satellite products to improve and expand
the use of satellite data for monitoring global meteorological, climatological
and environmental conditions. The Division conducts an end-to-end program ranging
from planning new satellite instruments to developing new satellite products and
applications and transitioning these developments to operations in NOAA's weather,
climate, and environmental monitoring and prediction systems. Most of the
Division's research and development falls in the following discipline areas:
- Atmospheric variables - temperature, humidity, winds
- Land surface variables - vegetation, snow and ice cover
- Hydrological Cycle variables - precipitation, clouds, water vapor
- Environmental hazards - aviation hazards, air quality, fires, heavy
rainfall and flash floods, drought
- Climate variables - ozone, Earth radiation budget, aerosols, greenhouse gases
In addition to developing new and improved products, SMCD conducts the
following crosscutting activities:
- Calibrating satellite instruments
- Transitioning research products to operational production
- Developing radiative transfer models for the National Weather
Service (NWS) Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) satellite data assimilation systems
- Developing and analyzing long-term satellite data sets for studying
and assessing climate change
- Planning and preparing for new satellite instruments
To execute its activities, SMCD has a vigorous visiting scientist
program and an extensive task order contract support system, which provides
scientists and software specialists to support the SMCD investigators.
Its scientists also collaborate with colleagues both nationally and
internationally.
Organization, Personnel, Resources
SMCD consists of three Branches: Sensor Physics Branch, Environmental
Monitoring Branch, and Operational Products Development Branch. The Division
also manages the funding for the NESDIS budget line item for the NOAA-
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-US Department of
Defense (DoD) Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA),
and a number of Division scientists are active in JCSDA research programs.
Organization
Sensor Physics Branch
The Sensor Physics Branch oversees the calibration of all of NOAA's Earth
observing satellite instruments and develops many of the atmospheric
products derived from satellite observations. It researches state-of-the-art
algorithms for profiling atmospheric temperature and water vapor, ozone,
air quality, carbon cycle and hydrological products from operational and
research satellite instruments. It develops, upgrades, and maintains the
Community Radiative Transfer Model. This is used for data assimilation in
the numerical weather prediction models of the NWS, NASA, and DoD. It is
developing, testing and implementing the next-generation of satellite
data retrieval systems for The National Polar-orbiting Operational
Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) and Geostationary Operational
Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) sensor applications. The Sensor Physics
Branch strongly supports the NOAA climate goal through its retrospective
reprocessing of satellite observations of ozone and atmospheric temperature
to produce Climate Data Records. It also participates in the design,
planning, and preparation for next generation satellite systems.
Environmental Monitoring Branch
The Environmental Monitoring Branch develops satellite-based land
surface, climate, and environmental hazards products. Its vegetation,
snow and ice cover products are used as initial or boundary conditions
for NWS weather prediction models. The Branch's Earth Radiation Budget,
cloud, and aerosol products help scientists to better understand critical
climate processes. Its heavy rainfall, fire, and drought products provide
early warnings for destructive environmental hazards. The Branch also
constructs long-term satellite-based data sets of Earth Radiation Budget,
clouds, aerosols, vegetation, and atmospheric temperature for monitoring
global climate change. It also participates in the design, planning, and
preparation for next generation satellite systems.
Operational Products Development Branch
The Operational Products Development Branch is the main conduit for
transferring new science into NESDIS operations for both geostationary
and polar satellites, and provides support in training NWS and DoD
forecasters to correctly utilize and interpret satellite products.
The Operational Products Development Branch transitions research
products to operations. The Branch transitions the science algorithms
developed by STAR for atmospheric sounding, wind, and convection
intensity products to operational processing systems for the NESDIS
Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution (OSDPD). It also
develops satellite products for use by the aviation sector, such as
aircraft icing, volcanic ash hazards, and fog and low ceiling events.
NOAA-NASA-DoD Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA)
SMCD manages the NOAA line item budget, which supports the JCSDA
Executive Office, STAR researchers working on JCSDA Directed Research
programs, and the extramural community through an A/O.
The JCSDA was established by NOAA, NASA, and DoD to accelerate and improve
the quantitative use of research and operational satellite data in weather
and climate analysis and prediction models. The JCSDA is part of the
Environmental Modeling Program, under NOAA's Weather and Water Goal,
which provides model-based estimates of current and future states of
the environment at multiple time scales. These estimates are based upon
a wide array of observational data and ever more refined modeling
techniques. The program maintains a suite of operational models to
meet current needs as well as a research and development program for
improved performance and new capabilities in future generations of
environmental models.
The vision of the JCSDA is a numerical weather prediction community
empowered to effectively assimilate increasing amounts of advanced
satellite observations. The goals of the JCSDA are to:
- Reduce from two years to one year the average time for
operational implementation of new satellite technology
- Improve and increase uses of current and future satellite
data in NWP models
- Assess the impacts of data from advanced satellite
instruments on weather and climate predictions
