McPherson, Ronald D.

"The advent of satellite-borne radiometric sensors in the 1960's raised the possibility that nearly continuous observation of atmospheric temperature on a global basis would soon be possible for the first time. Aside from considerations of accuracy, this type of observation differs from conventional data in two fundamental ways. First, the satellite derived data are incomplete, in that only one meteorological variable (temperature) is observed. Second, the observations are distributed in space and time, rather than at fixed locations and times. It became evident that, in order to make full use of the new data source, adjustments in the operational practice of numerical weather prediction would be necessary"--Introduction.

National Weather Service (NWS)

United States