NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP VIIRS satellite sensor: More precise hurricane forecasts

Tropical Storm Flossie imagery in July 2013 from Suomi NPP’s VIIRS Day-Night band revealing that the storm shifted more to the north, sparing the big island of Hawaii from a direct hit, but bringing the islands of Oahu, Molokai and Maui into a tropical storm warning area. 

Credit: NOAA

The ability to use satellites to locate a storm that could evolve into a severe storm or hurricane will likely become more accurate for this year's Atlantic hurricane season beginning June 1.

By then, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA), weather forecasters will be able to further improve the use of sensors aboard the NASA-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite (Suomi NPP).

U.S. Polar Environmental satellites such as Suomi NPP provide complete global coverage twice daily, while NOAA/NASA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites offer imagery over a fixed area.

To improve the ability to better find and track hurricanes, NOAA scientists are finding ways to incorporate data from Suomi NPP's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, VIIRS sensor, that allows observations of Earth's atmosphere and surface during nighttime hours and offers enhanced capability to see through clouds.

VIIRS provides many advances over previous operational imagers and advances compared to its research predecessor, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers (MODIS) currently operating on NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites.

It is these advances in polar imagery that will give forecasters a new tool to improve their predictions.

Similarly, the radar on board the NASA/Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite has the capability to see through and distinguish between precipitating cumulus and the cirrus clouds which TRMM's infrared sensor also detects.

The next-generation of these sensors is set to launch from Japan next month aboard the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite.

The information to track storms comes from satellites surface stations, weather balloons, radar and aircraft.

Most current satellites provide important information during day and night, although observations in the visible part of the spectrum are limited at night.

That is where VIIRS has an advantage. The VIIRS day-night band is sensitive enough to provide storm information even under limited moonlight conditions, a major advancement for storm analysis.

The Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) sensor aboard Suomi NPP also provides temperature and water vapour measurements with greater accuracy than similar microwave instruments onboard earlier satellites.

In relatively clear areas away from the storm center and in the eye of intense storms, the Cross-track Infrared Sensor (CrIS), also on Suomi NPP, enhances ATMS temperature and moisture information by providing measurements with even greater vertical and horizontal resolution.

Installation of the CrIS instrument. Credit: Ball Aerospace

SUOMI NPP VIIRS: Raytheon's Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite

VIIRS was launched into orbit aboard the Suomi NPP satellite in October 2011.

Raytheon's Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) was the focus of a high-profile panel discussion at this week's annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society.

The consensus among the panel's meteorologists: VIIRS is opening up exciting new possibilities for weather and climate monitoring.

Commenting on VIIRS' unique day-night band, which enables the capture of highly detailed imagery in extremely low-light conditions, Steve Miller, an atmospheric scientist at Colorado State University's Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, said: "VIIRS allows us to use the moon as a surrogate for the sun, providing visibility into nighttime weather and atmospheric conditions with incredible detail never before possible. This makes it a very powerful asset for operational forecasting."

VIIRS was launched into orbit aboard the Suomi NPP satellite in October 2011. Suomi NPP, a NASA-NOAA joint mission, is the precursor to a series of spacecraft that will make up the NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System, which is intended to provide critical weather and climate data for the next two decades.

Strabala of the University of Wisconsin enumerated the technological improvements encompassed in VIIRS over legacy systems, including increased scan distance and greater consistency in resolution across each image scan.

As the scientific community continues to learn how to optimize its use of the VIIRS data, Strabala indicated one drawback to the system: "We only have one such instrument on orbit."

Jedlovec, SPoRT project lead at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., cited the critical role the VIIRS day-night band played in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

"The VIIRS night-time imagery was provided to disaster relief agencies and allowed emergency teams to expedite their response to hurricane-ravaged areas," he said.

"This unprecedented night-time perspective was a huge help to relief organizations trying to measure the scope of impact."

Suomi NPP VIIRS Image: Night time view of the Aurora Borealis over Canada

The so-called day-night band of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, or VIIRS, can distinguish the night-time glow of Earth's atmosphere as well as a light from a single ship at sea. 

The resolution is far sharper than what has been available previously. 

VIIRS is aboard the Suomi NPP satellite, which orbits about 500 miles (800 km) above Earth's poles.Some VIIRS image have surprised scientists. 

The sensor, for example, captured light from the upper atmosphere illuminating clouds and ice in visible wavelengths - by night.

Night time view of the Aurora Borealis over Canada

Picture: NASA/Earth Observatory