Feb 22 2002
From The Space Library
The United States and Europe began incorporating data about wind speed and direction into their operational global weather analysis and forecast systems. NASA’s Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) spacecraft had gathered the data, which forecasters would use to predict, 6 to 12 hours earlier than before, hazardous weather events occurring over the oceans. QuikSCAT was orbiting Earth every 100 minutes, using its SeaWinds scatterometer to collect approximately 400,000 measurements over 90 percent of Earth’s surface within each 24-hour period. Although the spacecraft had launched in 1999, a series of collaborative research efforts, among organizations including NASA, NOAA, and numerous European agencies, had only recently enabled scientists to take advantage of the data’s full potential. The QuikSCAT program’s participants included the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, a branch of the National Weather Service. (NASA, “NASA’s QuikSCAT Spacecraft Turns Operational,” news release 02-33, 22 February 2002; NASA JPL, “Missions~ SeaWinds on QuikSCAT,” http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/quikscat/index.cfm (accessed 1 August 2008).
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