Architecting the Future of Weather Satellites

Maier, Mark W.; Gallagher, Frank W.; Germain, Karen St.; Anthes, Richard A.; Zuffada, Cinzia; Menzies, Robert T.; Piepmeier, Jeffrey R.; Pietro, David Di; Coakley, Monica M.; Adams, Elena

doi:10.1175/bams-d-19-0258.1

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…If a PRO constellation was flown in loose formation with an operationally sustained wide-swath (>2000 km) passive radiometer (such as the JPSS polar-orbiting platforms), it would yield a large fraction of nearcoincident RO and passive MW observations. Such a distributed observing strategy would capitalize upon the advantages of small satellite observations (unique observational capability, limited sampling, short expected lifecycle) with the reliability of sustained, reliable operational platforms (established observations, dense sampling, long lifetime), to utilize near-coincident observations as the respective satellite orbit paths intersect in close time proximity [44]. different direction depending upon the position of the transmitting and receiving satellites during the RO duration, given by the angle .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinguishing Convective-Transition Moisture-Temperature Relationships with a Constellation of Polarimetric Radio Occultation Observations in and near Convection

et al. 2022

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Convective transition statistics serve as diagnostics for the parameterization of convection in climate and weather forecast models by characterizing the dependence of convection on the humidity-temperature environment. The observed strong pickup of precipitation as a function of layer-averaged water vapor and temperature is captured in models with varying accuracy. For independent observational verification, a low-Earth orbiting satellite constellation of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) polarimetric radio occultation (PRO) measurements would be spaced such that adjacent RO would capture different profiles within and immediately adjacent to convection. Here, the number of profile observations needed to distinguish between convective transition relations by different tropospheric temperature ranges is determined, over different tropical oceanic basins. To obtain these, orbit simulations were performed by flying different satellite constellations over global precipitation from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, varying the numbers of satellites, orbit altitude, and inclination. A 45-degree orbit inclination was found to be a good tradeoff between maximizing the number of observations collected per day, and the desired 50–150-km spacing between individual RO ray paths. Assuming a set of reasonable assumptions for net data yield, three tropospheric temperatures can be distinguished by 1 K with a six-month on-orbit duration from a constellation of at least three satellites.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinguishing Convective-Transition Moisture-Temperature Relationships with a Constellation of Polarimetric Radio Occultation Observations in and near Convection

et al. 2022

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“…Costs of developing, deploying, and maintaining new space-based observing systems typically exceed $100-500 million per instrument; thus it is critical to determine the most cost-effective system. The study, known as the NOAA Satellite Observing System Architecture (NSOSA) study (Volz et al 2016;NOAA 2018a;NOAA 2018b;Maier et al 2021) investigated alternative satellite constellations and new capabilities to ensure readiness of new satellites for when current operating satellites are expected to retire. The study considered a more flexible approach beyond the current legacy systems, which typically take a decade or more when combining design, acquisition, and launch.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Maier et al (2021) study was a comprehensive consideration of the future NOAA constellation of operational satellites. It investigated over 180 possible constellations with no preconceived notions of instruments, platforms, orbits or other factors, while considering a wide range of user needs and was required to fit within the expected NESDIS budget.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Key to this analysis was the Environmental Data Record (EDR) Value Model (EVM), which was developed by the Space Platform Requirements Working Group (SPRWG), a group of subject matter experts knowledgeable about satellite capabilities and user needs (Anthes et al 2019). The EVM ranked 44 objectives in priority order for improvements of capabilities over the Program of Record (POR) in 2025, which was the expected constellation in 2025 (Maier et al 2021, their Table 1). The 44 objectives included 19 terrestrial weather-and climate-related observations, 19 space weather observations, and 6 strategic objectives (such as compatibility with fixed budgets and assurance of all capabilities).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) in Support of Next-Generation NOAA Satellite Constellation

Cucurull,

Anthes,

Casey

et al. 2024

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

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Between 2014 and 2018 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration conducted the NOAA Satellite Observing System Architecture (NSOSA) study to plan for the next generation of operational environmental satellites. The study generated some important questions that could be addressed by Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs). This paper describes a series of OSSEs in which benefits to numerical weather prediction from existing observing systems are combined with enhancements from potential future capabilities. Assessments include the relative value of the quantity of different types of thermodynamic soundings for global numerical weather applications. We compare the relative impact of several sounding configuration scenarios for infrared (IR), microwave (MW), and radio occultation (RO) observing capabilities. The main results are: (1) increasing the revisit rate for satellite radiance soundings produces the largest benefits, but at a significant cost by requiring an increase of the number of polar orbiting satellites from two to twelve; (2) a large positive impact is found when the number of RO soundings/day is increased well beyond current values and other observations are held at current levels of performance; (3) RO can be used as a mitigation strategy for lower MW/IR sounding revisit rates, particularly in the tropics; and (4) smaller benefits result from increasing the horizontal resolution along the track of the satellites of MW/IR satellite radiances. Furthermore, disaggregating IR and MW instruments into six evenly distributed sun-synchronous orbits is slightly more beneficial than when the same instruments are combined and collocated on three separate orbits.

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“…The collation of visual images and data from instruments on-board a satellite are essential for different areas of research for EO missions, such as: vegetation monitoring [1], weather tracking and monitoring [2]- [4], and deep space EO missions [5]. To maximise utilization through the most efficient methods for data throughput of these instruments, it is essential that highly feasible, towards optimal, schedules are created for these satellites [6]- [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abstract Argumentation for Explainable Satellite Scheduling

Powell

Riccardi

2022

2022 IEEE 9th International Conference on Data Science and Advanced Analytics (DSAA)

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Satellite schedules are derived from satellite mission objectives, which are mostly managed manually from the ground. This increases the need to develop autonomous on-board scheduling capabilities and reduce the requirement for manual management of satellite schedules. Additionally, this allows the unlocking of more capabilities on-board for decision-making, leading to an optimal campaign. However, there remain trust issues in decisions made by Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, especially in risk-averse environments, such as satellite operations. Thus, an explanation layer is required to assist operators in understanding decisions made, or planned, autonomously on-board. To this aim, a satellite scheduling problem is formulated, utilizing real world data, where the total number of actions are maximised based on the environmental constraints that limit observation and down-link capabilities. The formulated optimisation problem is solved with a Constraint Programming (CP) method. Later, the mathematical derivation for an Abstract Argumentation Framework (AAF) for the test case is provided. This is proposed as the solution to provide an explanation layer to the autonomous decision-making system. The effectiveness of the defined AAF layer is proven on the daily schedule of an Earth Observation (EO) mission, monitoring land surfaces, demonstrating greater capabilities and flexibility, for a human operator to inspect the machine provided solution.

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Architecting the Future of Weather Satellites

Abstract: Capsule A recent NOAA study investigated numerous alternatives for its operational constellation of weather satellites in the 2030 era. The study identified key options for orbits and levels of performance.

Cited by 15 publications

References 18 publications

Distinguishing Convective-Transition Moisture-Temperature Relationships with a Constellation of Polarimetric Radio Occultation Observations in and near Convection

Distinguishing Convective-Transition Moisture-Temperature Relationships with a Constellation of Polarimetric Radio Occultation Observations in and near Convection

Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) in Support of Next-Generation NOAA Satellite Constellation

Abstract Argumentation for Explainable Satellite Scheduling

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