NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research banner
 
GOES-T Launch Success - photo of Atlas rocket carrying GOES-T satellite during liftoff

GOES-T Launch Success

1 March 2022 - NOAA’s GOES-T, the third in a series of four advanced geostationary weather satellites, blasted into orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket at 4:38 p.m. EST on March 1 from NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

GOES-T will become operational as GOES West and track destructive wildfires, lightning, Pacific Ocean-based storms, dense fog, and other hazards that threaten the U.S. West Coast, Hawaii and Alaska. It will also monitor solar activity and space weather to provide early warnings of disruptions to power grids, communications and navigation systems.

STAR teammates contributed to this launch's success and will be involved in the post-launch testing, ongoing cal/val work and operational implementation of the satellite and its data.

 
ABI Blended 'High Wind Event' Imagery Composite

ABI Blended 'High Wind Event' Imagery Composite

STAR Shines at AMS 2022

18 February 2022 - STAR sends a full complement of presenters to the AMS Conference every year, and STAR’s tradition of participation continued at the 2022 conference. AMS 2022: “Environmental Security: weather, water and climate for a more secure world” ran from 23-27 January as a 100% virtual conference due to concerns about Omicron. AMS 2022 featured an eye-popping 638 sessions, 2,454 talks, and 976 posters.

The STAR Science Seminar Series has published a set of one-page summaries from STAR and CIMSS AMS contributors including 43 talks and 8 posters. There were nearly 100 STAR contributors to these talks and posters, which is 30% of STAR’s entire staff roster! Topics included restoring satellite instruments to full use after anomalies, product improvements in precipitation, rainfall, snow measurement, sea ice, and winds; AI applications in data assimilation; detection of blowing dust from imagery; new user training activities; even the creation of a GOES image displaying the plumes of gas & heat from rockets. The breadth of STAR AMS contributions is impressive, and we thank all the contributors!

 

STAR 2021 Annual ReportSTAR 2021 Annual Report

17 December 2021 - STAR published their 2021 Annual Report this week. This report highlights the variety of our work - hurricane predictions, ocean temperatures, launching new satellites, restoring old satellites, artificial intelligence, volcanoes, drought - STAR's work touches every part of NOAA's remote sensing missions.

 

Shobha KondraguntaShobha Kondragunta’s Banner Year

29 October 2021 - STAR's Shobha Kondragunta's timely work on COVID-driven emissions changes, which included 9 research articles, a website, an article in AGU's EOS and print media coverage, has earned a bumper crop of awards and recognition, including:

  • DOC Administrator's Award
  • Two NOAA Bronze Medals
  • the 2021 NESDIS Collaboration Award
  • Read more
 


GOES-17 ABI Captures Hunga-Tonga Eruption

GOES-17 satellite image: Eruption of underwater volcano Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai on 15 January 2022 at 4:10 UTC. Location: 20.55 deg S 175.38 deg W
click image to play video

18 January 2022 - At 4:10 UTC on 15 January 2022, the Hunga-Tonga Volcano in the South Pacific erupted. The eruption occurred about 40 miles north of Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa on Tongatapu, the country's main island. Tonga consists of 170 islands scattered over about 700,000 sq km. The archipelago is located east of Australia and northeast of New Zealand. About 100,000 people live in Tonga, the bulk of them on Tongatapu Island.

The underwater volcano Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption caused waves over 3' to crash into Tonga. Local authorities have confirmed at least one death and communications are crippled due to damage to fiber optic cables, making it difficult to establish the scale of damage. A magnitude 4.0 earthquake accompanied the eruption.

The GOES-17 ABI captured images of the eruption, as seen in this video. The initial dust cloud from the eruption spanned more than 400 miles wide. Tsunami watches were issued to Pacific coastal areas by the National Weather Service, with surf observed to be several feet above expected levels in the Pacific Northwest.


2022 NOAA CoRP Science Symposium - CIRA - Colorado State University - 25-27 July 2022

16 May 2022 - This year’s CoRP Science Symposium will be held in person from July 25 to 27 at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere of Colorado State University located in Fort Collins, CO. The Symposium brings together members from the NOAA and academic community to discuss the latest developments in satellite remote sensing research and applications, targeting multidisciplinary research with a focus on early-career scientists. The Symposium is part of a larger strategy to promote federal and academic partnerships and collaborations.

This year's event will focus on building stronger connections between NOAA's Cooperative Institutes and Cooperative Science Center faculty and students to promote a more diverse NOAA workforce in the future, with an emphasis on CI-affiliated students, postdocs, and junior scientists as conduits for collaboration.

  • Please register early. Space is limited. Hybrid options may be available for spill-over attendance.
  • Registration NOW OPEN


Latest STAR Publications

Updated: Thu, 28 Apr 2022

Title:
Global Daily Actual and Snow-Free Blue-Sky Land Surface Albedo Climatology From 20-Year MODIS Products
Authors:
Jia AL, Wang DD, Liang SL, Peng JJ and Yu YY
Journal:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 127(8)
DOI: 10.1029/2021jd035987
Date:
Apr 2022
Title:
Method for assessment of the apparent detector stack position in a whisk-broom sensor
Authors:
Kondratovich V
Journal:
Journal of Applied Remote Sensing 16(1):1-14.
DOI: 10.1117/1.JRS.16.014523
Date:
Mar 2022
Title:
Temperature and Moisture Sounding Performance of Current and Prospective Microwave Instruments under All-Sky Conditions
Authors:
Maddy ES, Bunin S, Mikles VJ, Shahroudi N, Shiotani B and Boukabara SA
Journal:
Remote Sensing 14(7)
DOI: 10.3390/rs14071624
Date:
Apr 2022
Title:
A New Method for Generating the SMOPS Blended Satellite Soil Moisture Data Product without Relying on a Model Climatology
Authors:
Yin JF, Zhan XW, Liu JC and Ferraro RR
Journal:
Remote Sensing 14(7)
DOI: 10.3390/rs14071700
Date:
Apr 2022

View all of STAR's latest research articles.

 

Data, algorithms, and images presented on STAR websites are intended for experimental use only and are not supported on an operational basis. Read more

Dept. of Commerce • NOAA • NESDIS • Privacy Policy • Disclaimers • Information Quality • Accessibility • Search • Customer Survey
Site owner: STAR • Contact webmaster • Revised: 16 May 2022

National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration website NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research website