Every Day is Earth Day at NOAA Satellite and Information Service

April 23, 2013

By now most of us know the mission of Earth Day - to provide education, inspire leadership and encourage action for a healthy environment. For more than 40 years this Nation and many other countries have been celebrating Earth Day. For over 50 years NOAA's Satellite and Information Service and its partners have been monitoring the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, helping to protect life and property and conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources.

NOAA satellites have a long history in supporting the Earth Day Mission. Many NOAA satellites, products, and services align with Earth Day celebrations and demonstrate how we partner with those that also support Earth Day goals. Here we focus on three such products and services.

Examining the State of the Climate

NOAA's National Climate Data Center (NCDC) released the 2011 State of the Climate report, a peer-reviewed report compiled by scientists from countries around the world. Highlighted in this detailed, updated review of our global status are notable weather events, and other data on land, sea, ice, and sky. For instance, 2011 was the coolest year on record since 2008 even though temperatures remained above the 1981-2010 average. The report is part of a suite of climate services NOAA provides government, business, and community leaders so they can make informed decisions that save lives and protect property. NCDC has led the annual effort to assemble the State of the Climate report for the last 12 years. In that time, the number of contributing authors has grown from 13 in 2001 to 378 authors from every continent in 2012.

The 2011 State of the Climate report explains what is happening across Earth's climate system and how and where the climate is changing. It serves as one of the world's most comprehensive and reliable annual "scorekeepers" of changes, variations, and trends in the state of the climate. Educators also use the report as a tool to teach students about various aspects of climate and climate change. Each year the report reaches a broader audience as an increasing number of businesses, groups, and individuals gather ever-growing interest and concern about the global climate change.

Important Work of Providing Weather and Water Information

California now joins Oregon with a complete coastal digital evaluation model thanks to NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) working with NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, the Tsunami Warning Centers, and the National Ocean Service. NGDC completed integrated bathymetric-topographic digital evaluation models (DEM) for communities of San Diego, Monterey and Fort Bragg, CA. This completes the entire coast of the State of California. The national DEM network also includes new models for communities in Alaska, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Maine. NOAA's Satellite and Information Service NGDC identified and ingested all available data needed to develop ten new digital elevation models for tsunami forecast, warning, and mitigation as well as one unstructured model for southern Louisiana. Digital evaluation models that transition from the ocean floor to the land, without discontinuities, are essential to NOAA's mission for accurate tsunami, storm surge, and coastal inundation forecast and mitigation.

These DEMs models serve multiple purposes, providing foundational information for state and local emergency planning and response to coastal flooding. This effect helps communities understand climate variability and change, manage ecosystems and support commerce and transportation. No one can deny how extreme weather events (i.e., tsunamis and hurricanes) are impacting and changing coastlines around the world. NOAA's NGDC's digital models, technical reports and imagery, made available online, support maximum use and re-use, compounding the return on the investment. The overall work addresses the National Ocean Policy milestone to "Improve and implement,... a sustained and seamless description of coastal and marine elevation extending from on-shore coastal areas (Coastal National Elevation Dataset) through the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and extended continental shelf,...which meets the needs of decision makers."

Understanding Climate Variability and Change with Satellite Instruments

The successful launch, commissioning and weather and climate data processing of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) weather and climate satellite represents a critical first step in building the next-generation satellite system. The launch of SNPP, October 2011, and its initial checkout and commissioning completed March 2012, represents many years of exceptional work by the NOAA, NASA and contractor teams. This extraordinary effort creates the gateway to the U.S. climate monitoring system that will collect both climate and operational weather data and continues key data records that are critical for global change science.

SNPP will carry five science instruments and test key technologies for the JPSS mission. JPSS-1 is the second spacecraft within NOAA's next generation of polar-orbiting satellites and is scheduled to launch in early 2017. The NOAA Satellite and Information Service algorithm team was instrumental in getting SNPP Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) data assimilated into Numerical Weather Prediction models by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), the first of SNPP sensors to be used operationally.

NOAA Satellite and Information Service has been responsible for and provides the oversight for the last decade of SNPP, formerly known as the NPOESS Preparatory Project. This NOAA team has played a major part in getting ready for and processing the SNPP data. SNPP is the first satellite mission to address the challenge of acquiring a wide range of land, ocean, and atmospheric measurements for earth system science while simultaneously preparing to address operational requirements for long range weather forecasting.

Every day is Earth Day at NOAA Satellite and Information Service

As we celebrate spring and Earth Day, let's remember how NOAA Satellite and Information Service benefits the public every day. NOAA's satellite programs are critically important to providing the public with accurate and reliable weather forecasts. These programs are so vital to making this Nation a Weather-Ready Nation. Our human health and welfare as well as economic sustainability and global security all depend on our ability to understand and adapt to global environmental changes.

Related Article(s):
Digital Elevation Models (DEMs)
Soumi NPP Launch

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