Overview of Bureau of Meteorology Satellite Data and Applications

Satellite | Satellite Products and Archive | About Satellite Images

• Introduction
• Geostationary Satellite Data and Applications
  • Satellite Derived Estimates of Global Solar Radiation
  • Cloud and Water Vapour Winds
  • Volcanic Ash Detection
  • Data Collection Platforms
  • GMS Pathfinder Project
• NOAA Orbiting Satellite Data and Applications
  • Tiros Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS)
  • Sea Surface Temperatures
  • Grass Land Curing Indicator (GCI) and Normalised Vegetation Index (NDVI)
  • Sea Ice Monitoring
  • Bushfire Smoke Monitoring
• Other Satellite Data
  • Meteosat and GOES Satellite Data
  • Feng Yun 2 (FY-2) Satellite Data
  • ENVISAT & QuikSCAT Data
  • Terra and Aqua (X Band Upgrade)
• References

Introduction

The Bureau collects, uses and archives various data from satellites in the World Meteorological Organisation's World Weather Watch system. This system of satellites enables the routine monitoring of day to day weather conditions and longer term climate change over the entire globe. Over the Australian region, the Bureau obtains realtime data from the GOES-9 satellite (operated jointly by JMA and NOAA), the United States, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) series and the China Meteorological Agency's Fengyun 2 satellite via direct readout into its national ground station network. Meteosat, GOES-8 and GOES-10 data are received by mutual arrangement from the Space Science and Engineering Centre (SSEC) in Wisconsin via the Internet and ERS scatterometer data are received via the Global Telecommunications System (GTS). The schematic details of the Bureau's reception, processing and archive system are shown in Figure 1.

The Bureau has just completed the installation of a second Medium scale Data Utilisation Station (MDUS) at Darwin to complement its MDUS in Melbourne. Two more stations are planned for Sydney and Perth as part of the Bureau's commitment to regional reception. The regional reception of GMS satellite data ensures that reliable, full resolution S-VISSR data is available within 5 minutes from the end of the scan rather than waiting for the data to be subsected and disseminated over the Bureau wide area network.