The NOAA Operational Significant Events Imagery Service

The U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has designed, developed, and implemented a system to provide significant event imagery from NOAA's geostationary and polar orbiting satellites, called the Operational Significant Event Imagery (OSEI) service. The OSEI is managed by the Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution (OSDPD), Satellite Services Division (SSD),a component of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS). The system currently provides Internet access to a variety of specially processed satellite imagery of hazards, storms, and other unique environmental and anthropogenic events. These events include volcanic ash, tropical cyclones, severe storms, oil spills, wildfire, ice and snow extent, floods, and dust. A team of analysts work daily to search for and create imagery of significant events. A rating system, reviewed daily, determines which global events will be monitored by the team. Imagery is processed using specialized image processing software to false color and combine data from visible and infrared sensors. Services provided to customers of the OSEI include access to an on-line data archive of past events, browse imagery, and email subscription. Extensive online user's guides and help are provided. Imagery is made available to news and media services as well as the general public. The website is located at http://www.osei.noaa.gov.