NOAA leadership has stated on several occasions that basic tenets of a rigorous National environmental strategy are: (1) societal weather readiness, (2) environmental intelligence and (3) environmental security. The Town Hall will convene a distinguished panel of experts with broad expertise in environmental satellites to address how the new generation of operational environmental satellites have and will contribute to achieving the objectives of the NWS Weather Ready Nation program and make our Nation better prepared for and responsive to a range of natural disasters. Impacts from severe storms in the United States cost billions of dollars and claim thousands of lives per year. “Becoming a Weather Ready Nation means not just providing timely, accurate, and reliable weather forecasts, but it also means communicating that information in a way that compels people to act to protect themselves and their interests. NOAA’s global observing systems are the foundation of the environmental intelligence NOAA provides. The FY 2016 budget includes critical investments in weather satellite systems and the NOAA fleet to preserve — and improve — the U.S. ability to generate environmental intelligence.”* Ensuring communities and businesses have the necessary information, products, and services to prepare for and prosper in a changing environment leads to environmental security. The current and new generation of operational polar-orbiting and geostationary environmental satellite systems (e.g., S-NPP, JPSS, GCOM-W, Metop, DMSP, Sentinels, GOES-R, MeteoSat and Himawari) with their new and improved sensor capabilities are being accompanied by novel and enhanced user applications. Such new capabilities as VIIRS Day-Night Band (DNB), GOES-R Global Lightning Monitor (GLM) lightning data, the satellites improved temporal and spatial resolution, and reduced data latencies combine to greatly advance our environmental situational awareness, intelligence, readiness, and security. *Source: Statement from Dr. Kathryn Sullivan on NOAA’s Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Request For additional information, please contact Gary McWilliams gary.mcwilliams@noaa.gov.