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Weather Satellites
A weather satellite is used in weather forecasting. It records
cloud distribution and temperature to help to predict weather
patterns.
A weather satellite is a cloud observing platform in space.
Satellites provide cloud observations day and night over
large regions. There are two main types of weather satellites:
geostationary satellites and polar orbiting satellites.
Geostationary
satellites orbit the earth at the same rate that the earth
spins. They stay about 36,000 km (about 22,000 mi) above
a certain spot on the equator and are always monitoring
a specific region below them. Many pictures of clouds are
taken in a row, so geostationary satellites show meteorologists
valuable information about the development, movement, and
dissipation (going away) of weather fronts, storms, and
clouds.
Polar
orbiting satellites, which are sit about 850 km (about 530
mi) above the earth's surface. They pass over the North
and South poles on each orbit. They photograph the clouds
directly beneath them. Because the earth rotates beneath
the satellite, each orbit lets the satellite monitor an
area that is farther west than it was the time before. This
way, the satellite photographs the entire surface of the
earth every 12 hours.
Polar
orbiting satellites observe clouds at a much lower altitude
than geostationary satellites, they provide more photographic
detail of cloud systems.
Here's
what geostationary means:
Stationary (in one place) over point on Earth: This word
describes the orbit of a satellite that circles the Earth
above the equator at the same speed as the Earth's rotation,
(so it looks stationary, or the satellite does). Most communications
satellites are in geostationary orbit.
Polar means:
Found in the regions surrounding the North or South Pole.
*Information
on weather satellites from Encarta.com,
simplified.
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