For the weather forecast it is necessary to have weather satellites in orbit over our planet. It is used for the detection and analysis of all the characteristics of the atmosphere and the different factors that influence the climate and atmospheric phenomena. It also has great importance for human activities and their development. In the past it had relevance for military operations and planning in a wide spectrum of situations.
In this article, we'll tell you all about the features, operation, and importance of weather satellites.
Key features
Observing the atmosphere and its conditions is essential to understanding the planet's climate. weather satellites They are responsible for observing, detecting, and recording all weather forecasts. For the various atmospheric studies, probes of various types and characteristics are used. Some of them have certain limitations, such as the amount of solar radiation. For example, there are meteorological satellites that operate using infrared radiation and do not require sunlight to function. However, if more precise data or a real-time scale are needed, a very wide instantaneous diffusion is necessary.
The use of meteorological satellites It started after the Second World War. It took 10 years to launch the first satellite since 1947, since it was in continuous study and research. The idea quickly emerged as a way of explaining weather events to aid military scenarios. Currently, different detection methods are used and the entire spectrum is used from ultraviolet to microwaves, through the spectrum visible to humans and radio waves.
Conditions for the use of meteorological satellites
To achieve the correct use of meteorological satellites, certain conditions must be met, such as the following:
- Being in a location far enough away to allow coverage of the entire area where you want to make the prediction. A field of view is needed that allows the identification of cloud masses and all the geophysical characteristics of the terrain. This serves to establish the possible consequences that meteorological phenomena can cause on the ground at ground level.
- The satellite's movement must be planned in such a way that your field of vision appears every 12 hours. It is convenient to travel twice over the same cloud system to be able to correctly identify the atmospheric disturbances that are associated with the cloud system.
- The speed of movement of the satellite must be such that it allows a precise location of all the cloud systems under study with respect to the terrestrial areas to which it influences.
- Usually almost all storms move east from west. For this reason, weather satellites must have a westward motion component. We are referring to the west with respect to the earth's surface. In this way, it is able to detect atmospheric disturbances that may appear depending on the cloud system that is being analyzed.
- The entire earth's surface must be covered at least once a day. Thanks to this, you can have a panoramic view of the entire global atmospheric scenario.
All the conditions we have set are met as long as it was set to satellites at 2.01 terrestrial radio. It must always be counted from the center of the Earth and with a rotation period of about 4 exact hours.
Usefulness of meteorological satellites
Let's see what kind of utility the data collected by the weather satellitesWe know that since 1966, the surface of our planet has been photographed continuously, at least once a day. Not all photos are used only in real time, but are archived for various statistics and research on climatology. As we know, climatology is the science that studies all meteorological and atmospheric factors over geological time. In other words, we could say that climatology is the sum of all variables and their behavior over time.
This information is obtained thanks to the weather satellites It has been very useful in numerous cases. Let's look at some examples:
- On planet Earth there are different large areas in which information is obtained thanks to conventional methods such as deserts, polar zones and ocean expanses of the northern and southern hemispheres where humans cannot study in situ. Thanks to this type of technology we can obtain information about these places without having to be in them.
- Another of the cases where the information obtained with meteorological satellites has been very useful is for the location and monitoring of hurricanes, typhoons and tropical storms. It is vitally important to obtain information about the behavior of these extreme meteorological phenomena in order to be able to take extreme precautions and avoid possible disasters.
The data provided by meteorological satellites can be used to obtain charts of sea surface temperatures. The temperature on the sea surface is an important variable since it is the determining factor for the movement of marine currents. This information is not only useful for the weather, but also for navigation and fishing.
Methods for obtaining information
The only system capable of obtaining complete coverage of atmospheric temperature and different altitudes are meteorological satellites. To launch a meteorological satellite, a launch vehicle is required. The advantage that meteorological satellites provide is that they shuttle space vehicles it is to be able to be used as a method of obtaining information in laboratories for periods of time greater than those of suborbital flights. Thanks to this type of vehicle you can have information on the following aspects:
- Temperature control in all parts of the atmosphere and the earth's surface.
- External and internal communications.
- Atmospheric data processing.
- Control of the stability and maneuvers of both commercial and military aircraft.
- Influence of cosmic rays on our planet.
- Astronomy.
- Plasma physics
- Environmental observations
I hope that with this information you can learn more about meteorological satellites and how they work.