1. Presented by Beth Caissie
Polar Remote Sensing
Presented by Beth Caissie
Photo taken by Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders on December 24, 1968, showing the Earth rising above the lunar surface.
Photo taken by Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders on December 24, 1968, showing the Earth rising above the lunar surface.

2. Electromagnetic spectrum
Satellite sensors specialize in collecting data about specific wavelengths

3. Geostationary Satellites (GOES)
Geostationary Satellites (GOES)
“…fix an unblinking eye from the sky on a certain part of our planet.”
The Geostationary Operational Environment Satellites (GOES) operated by NASA, NOAA, and the U.S. Department of Commerce provide continuous monitoring of weather conditions. Orbiting the Earth’s equatorial plane at a speed exactly matching the planet’s rotation, satellites in the GOES network seem to hover over fixed spots. They monitor atmospheric conditions that lead to hurricanes, flash floods, tornadoes, and hail storms. GOES satellites also monitor volcanic plumes.
At 6:51 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on June 27, 2009, the GOES-O weather satellite launched aboard a Delta IV rocket from Launch Complex 37 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This photograph shows the GOES-O-bearing Delta IV rocket shooting above two lightning towers near the launch pad 3

4. Geostationary Satellite
Maintains its position over a particular location as the Earth rotates beneath it

5. Full Disk
Remote-sensing scientists call a satellite image that captures an entire hemisphere of the Earth in one view a “full-disk” image.
On August 17, 2009, at 1:31 p.m. EST, the latest NASA/NOAA geostationary weather satellite, called GOES-14, returned its first full-disk thermal infrared (IR) image, showing radiation with a wavelength of 10.7 micrometers emanating from Earth. Infrared images are useful because they provide information about temperatures
Red = visible channel, Green/blue = infrared channel 5

6. Polar Orbiting Sun-synchronous
NASA monitors the health of our planet with a constellation of satellites. The Aqua satellite, shown at top, uses the Latin name for water, and it carries a suite of sensors specially designed for observing all parts of Earth’s water cycle, including water on land, in the oceans, and in the atmosphere. Aqua follows a kind of polar orbit known as a Sun-synchronous orbit, which means it crosses the equator at the same local time during each pass. Aqua’s orbit ascends from south to north during the daylight hours, crosses near the North Pole, circles around Earth’s nighttime side, and crosses near the South Pole to return to the daytime side. 6

7. Example of a Polar Orbiting Satellite
Daily Landsat tracks across Antarctica (compare to 1 pass every 16 days in lower latitudes)

8. Greenland Ice Sheet Temperature and Sea Ice
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio. The Next Generation Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).

9. Arctic Summer Sea-Ice Extent
SSM/I Data:
Special Sensor Microwave/ Imager, operated by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
Not affected by clouds!
Near polar orbiting satellite
Continuous record since 1979
Very coarse resolution:
25 x 25 km grid
From far…
white > 15% ice coverage

10. Educational Materials and Activities!
…to near
1 km resolution:
AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer)
30 m resolution:
Landsat
Educational Materials and Activities!

11. Sensing Biology

12. Sensing Biology