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Space Topics: Earth
Whole-Earth Views from Geostationary Satellites
Meteosat-8 image of Earth
Taken on January 1, 2007 at 12:00.
Credit: © EUMETSAT, NERC Satellite Receiving Station, University of Dundee
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Geostationary satellites operate in equatorial orbits at an altitude of 35,790
kilometers (22,240 miles) above the surface of Earth. At this altitude,
the satellite orbits Earth at exactly the same rate that Earth rotates underneath
it. As a result, the satellite is parked in orbit above the equator at
a constant longitude, and it sees day and night pass over the ground below
it. As of April 2007, five main geostationary satellites currently provide
images for free to the Web in near real time. For most of these, the latest
images are available for free at intervals of every three to six hours. The
data from the five satellites can be merged into data sets covering all of
Earth.
METEOSAT-9, Europe and Africa
GOES-East, the Americas
GOES-West, Pacific Ocean
Himawari 6, East Asia and Australia
METEOSAT-7, Indian Ocean and Asia
Realtime all-Earth views
All of these satellites
have imagers that view Earth in both visible and infrared wavelengths.
Visible-wavelength views see day and night, while infrared-wavelength views
can show cloud patterns even at nighttime. Only one of these satellites,
METEOSAT-9, has the necessary color filters to produce approximate true
color views; all other satellites' visible-wavelength views are only black-and-white.
Longitude 0°: METEOSAT-9
(Also known as MSG-2)
METEOSAT-9 is the second
in the second generation of METEOSAT satellites, operated by the European
consortium EUMETSAT. Its imager, SEVIRI, captures whole-globe views of
Europe, Africa, and much of the Atlantic Ocean every 15 minutes through
12 filters, including red, green, and blue ones that permit approximate
true-color views of Earth. Meteosat-9 supplanted Meteosat-8 in this capacity
on April 11, 2007.
Where to get images:
Dundee
Satellite Receiving Station archives four longitude 0° METEOSAT
images per day through all filters from August 2004 to the present.
They also provide static
addresses for the most recent image.
EUMETSAT makes
available the latest
image at full resolution, and maintains
an archive of interesting images.
Note: METEOSAT-9 sees the full disk illuminated at approximately 12:00 UTC.
Views of Earth from Meteosat-8
These four views of Earth were taken at 0:00, 6:00, 12:00, and 18:00 on January
1, 2007 by the SEVIRI camera on the geostationary meteorological satellite Meteosat-8.
Images from these four times every day are made available to the public in JPEG
format for free by the Dundee Satellite Receiving Station.
Credit: © EUMETSAT, NERC Satellite Receiving Station, University of Dundee
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Longitude 75° West: GOES-East (Also known as GOES-12)
(Formerly known as GOES-M)
GOES-12 is operated by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and provides the primary coverage of real-time weather
information for North and South America. Its imager usually captures whole-globe
views every 30 minutes through five filters. However, when storms threaten
the United States, the satellite rapidly scans the site of the dangerous
weather, and whole-globe views are reduced to every three hours. GOES-East
does not return images taken through the visible filter when much of
Earth's disk is in nighttime darkness.
Where to get images:
Dundee
Satellite Receiving Station archives seven GOES-East images
per day through three filters for the most recent 30 days. They also provide static
addresses for the most recent image.
NOAA makes
10 GOES-East images per day available through all filters at full resolution
for the most recent 8 days via anonymous
FTP.
Note: GOES-East sees the full disk illuminated at approximately 17:00 UTC.
Images of Earth from GOES-East
These ten images of Earth were taken by the geostationary satellite GOES-East (GOES-12) on April 12 and 13, 2007. From left to right, they were taken at: 08:15, 08:45, 09:15, 09:45, 11:45, 14:45, 17:45, 20:45, 23:45, and 02:45 (all times UTC). Images taken at these times are available via anonymous ftp from goes.gsfc.nasa.gov.
Credit: NASA-GSFC, data from NOAA GOES
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Longitude 135° West: GOES-West (Also known as GOES-11)
(Formerly known as GOES-L)
GOES-West is similar to GOES-East, except that it sits over the Pacific Ocean.
Images are available from the same sources.
Note: GOES-West sees the full disk illuminated at approximately 22:00 UTC.
Images of Earth from GOES-West
These eleven images of Earth were taken by the geostationary satellite GOES-West (GOES-11) on April 12 and 13, 2007. From left to right, they were taken at: 12:00, 15:00, 18:00, 21:00, 00:00, 03:00, 04:00, 04:30, 05:00, 05:30, and 06:00 (all times UTC). Images taken at these times are available via anonymous ftp from goes.gsfc.nasa.gov.
Credit: NASA-GSFC, data from NOAA GOES
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Longitude 140° East: Himawari 6 (Also known as MTSAT-1R)
Himawari-6 is operated by Japan's Meteorological Agency and the Ministry
of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport and provides imaging of the western
Pacific, eastern Asia, and Australasia. Images of the northern hemisphere
are captured every 30 minutes, and full disk images every hour, through
five channels. Like the GOES satellites, Himawari 6 does not return visible-wavelength
images for periods when most of the globe is in nighttime darkness.
Where to get images:
Dundee
Satellite Receiving Station archives six to eight Himawari-6 (MTSAT-1R)
images per day through three filters for the most recent 30 days. They
also provide static
addresses for the most recent image.
Japan Meteorological
Agency maintains a site that permits viewing of animations of the latest
data from the satellite.
Note: Himawari 6 sees the full disk illuminated at approximately
02:40 UTC.
Images of Earth from Himawari 6 (MTSAT-1R)
These five images of Earth were taken by the geostationary satellite Himawari
6 (MTSAT-1R) on April 8 and 9, 2007. From left to right, they were taken
at: 21:00, 00:00, 03:00, 06:00, and 09:00 (all times UTC). Images taken at
these five times are available from the Dundee
Satellite Receiving Station.
Credit: Japan Meteorological Agency / courtesy EUMETSAT / NERC Satellite
Receiving Station, University of Dundee
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Longitude 57.5°: METEOSAT-7
Provider of the Indian Ocean Data Coverage service (IODC)
METEOSAT-7 was the last of the first generation of METEOSAT satellites,
operated by the European consortium EUMETSAT. Its imager, MVIRI, captures
whole-globe views of Europe, western and central Asia, Africa, and the
Indian Ocean every 30 minutes through three filters.
Where to get images:
Dundee
Satellite Receiving Station archives four IODC METEOSAT
images per day through all filters from the last 30 days. They
also provide static
addresses for the most recent image.
EUMETSAT makes
available the latest image at full resolution, and maintains an archive
of interesting images.
Note: METEOSAT-7 sees the full disk illuminated at approximately 08:10
UTC.
Views of Earth from Meteosat-7
These four views of Earth were taken at 0:00, 6:00, 12:00, and 18:00 on April
11, 2007 by the MVIRI camera on the geostationary meteorological satellite
Meteosat-7. Images from these four times every day are
made available to the public in JPEG format for free by the Dundee
Satellite Receiving Station.
Credit: © EUMETSAT, NERC Satellite Receiving Station, University of Dundee
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Realtime all-Earth views
EUMETSAT, NOAA, and the Japan Meteorological Agency designed the
imaging instruments on their different satellites to carry compatible sets
of filters, which allows data from these five satellites to be merged into
global data sets. These merged data sets are provided to the public by
the Space Science
and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The
merged data sets can be used to produce simulated global views at John
Walker's Earth and Moon Viewer, which was also used to create the
thumbnail global images on this page.
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