Satellite Meteorology Education Resources: New Modules and Initiatives

The COMET® Program (www.comet.ucar.edu) receives funding from NESDIS and the NPOESS Integrated Program Office (IPO), with additional contributions from the GOES-R Program Office and EUMETSAT, to directly support education and training efforts in the area of satellite meteorology. This partnership enables COMET to create educational materials of global interest on the products and operational applications from geostationary and polar-orbiting remote sensing platforms.

Over the last several years, COMET's satellite education programs have focused on the capabilities and applications of the upcoming NPP/NPOESS system and its relevance to operational forecasters and other user communities. COMET's activities have recently expanded to include training on the future GOES-R satellites. By partnering with experts from the Naval Research Laboratory, NOAA-NESDIS and various user communities, COMET stimulates greater utilization of both current and future satellite data observations and products. In addition, COMET has broadened the scope of its online training to include materials on the EUMETSAT Polar-orbiting System (EPS) and Meteosat geostationary satellites. EPS represents an important contribution to the Initial Joint Polar System (IJPS) between NOAA and EUMETSAT, while Meteosat imaging capabilities provide an important proving ground for the next generation GOES-R imager.

This presentation provides an overview of COMET's recent satellite education efforts and publications, highlighting new materials relevant to both polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites. In addition to being available via the MetEd Web site (www.meted.ucar.edu/topics_satellite.php), COMET's satellite modules can also be found amongst a growing body of satellite information and training resources within the Environmental Satellite Resource Center (ESRC) Web site (www.meted.ucar.edu/esrc). The ESRC, developed and supported by COMET, provides search capabilities and free access to low Earth orbiting and geostationary satellite information and education from multiple trusted sources. The ESRC site is a community-driven resource and is sponsored by the NPOESS IPO, NOAA, and NESDIS.