The Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) was a constellation of polar orbiting

weather satellite A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites can be polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asynchronously), or ge ...

s funded by the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

(NOAA) and the

European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) is an intergovernmental organisation created through an international convention agreed by a current total of 30 European Member States. EUMETSAT's primary ...

(EUMETSAT) with the intent of improving the accuracy and detail of weather analysis and forecasting. The spacecraft were provided by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

and the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

(ESA), and NASA's

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

oversaw the manufacture, integration and test of the NASA-provided

TIROS TIROS, or Television InfraRed Observation Satellite, is a series of early weather satellites launched by the United States, beginning with TIROS-1 in 1960. TIROS was the first satellite that was capable of remote sensing of the Earth, enablin ...

satellites. The first polar-orbiting weather satellite launched as part of the POES constellation was the Television Infrared Observation Satellite-N (

TIROS-N TIROS-N satellite is the first of the TIROS-N series. It is a weather satellite launched on 13 October 1978. It was designed to become operational during 2 years. Its mass is 734 kilograms. Its perigee to Earth is 829 kilometers. Its apogee is ...

), which was launched on 13 October 1978. The final spacecraft, NOAA-19 (NOAA-N Prime), was launched on 6 February 2009. The ESA-provided

MetOp Metop (Meteorological Operational satellite) is a series of three polar-orbiting meteorological satellites developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and operated by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites ...

satellite operated by EUMETSAT utilize POES-heritage instruments for the purpose of data continuity. The

Joint Polar Satellite System The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) is the latest generation of U.S. polar-orbiting, non-geosynchronous, environmental satellites. JPSS will provide the global environmental data used in numerical weather prediction models for forecasts, and ...

(JPSS-1, now

NOAA-20 NOAA-20, designated JPSS-1 prior to launch, is the first of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's latest generation of U.S. polar-orbiting, non-geosynchronous, environmental satellites called the Joint Polar Sat ...

), which was launched on 18 November 2017, is the successor to the POES Program. On-orbit satellite operations of POES is performed by NOAA's Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO).

Daily global coverage

Each POES satellite completes roughly 14.1 orbits per day. Since the number of orbits per day is not an

integer An integer is the number zero (), a positive natural number (, , , etc.) or a negative integer with a minus sign (−1, −2, −3, etc.). The negative numbers are the additive inverses of the corresponding positive numbers. In the language ...

, the

ground track A ground track or ground trace is the path on the surface of a planet directly below an aircraft's or satellite's trajectory. In the case of satellites, it is also known as a suborbital track, and is the vertical projection of the satellite's or ...

s do not repeat on a daily basis. The systems includes both morning and afternoon satellites which provide global coverage four times daily.

Applications

Data from the POES support a broad range of environmental monitoring applications including weather analysis and forecasting, climate research and prediction, global sea surface temperature measurements, atmospheric soundings of temperature and humidity, ocean dynamics research, volcanic eruption monitoring, forest fire detection, global vegetation analysis, search and rescue, and many other applications. One of the key instruments of the current POES system is the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS/4). HIRS/4 senses within 20 channels ranging from visible bands to long wave infrared (0.69-14.96 micron wavelengths), to sense variation of temperature, humidity, and pressures within the atmosphere. The data collected from HIRS/4 is collaboratively used with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) to advance research in sea surface temperatures, cloud coverage analysis, ozone concentrations throughout the atmosphere and earth's radiance.

SARSAT

POES has been used by the Search and Rescue community since 1982. COSPAS- SARSAT is the international humanitarian Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System that is responsible for alerting and locating information to search and rescue authorities. COSPAS-SARSAT satellites detect 406 MHz distress signals at all times from nearly any place on the globe. Each 406 MHz beacon has a unique fifteen digit identification (ID) code embedded within its signal which allows rescuers to have an identification of the party in distress before they head out on the rescue. There is no charge for this service provided in conjunction with

(NOAA) and SARSAT.

Mission

- Launched on 13 October 1978. Deactivated on 27 February 1981. * NOAA-6 - Launched on 27 June 1979. Deactivated on 31 March 1987. *

NOAA-B NOAA B was an American operational weather satellite for use in the National Operational Environmental Satellite System (NOESS) and for the support of the Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP) during 1978-1984. The satellite design provided ...

- Launched on 29 May 1980. Deorbited on 31 May 1981. *

NOAA-7 NOAA-7, known as NOAA-C before launch, was an American operational weather satellite for use in the National Operational Environmental Satellite System (NOESS) and for the support of the Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP) during 1978-19 ...

- Launched on 23 June 1981. Deactivated in June 1986. *

NOAA-8 NOAA-8, known as NOAA-E before launch, was an American weather satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for use in the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS). It was first ...

- Launched on 28 March 1983. Deactivated on 9 January 1986. *

NOAA-9 NOAA-9, known as NOAA-F before launch, was an American weather satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for use in the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS). It was the ...

- Launched on 12 December 1984. Deactivated on 13 February 1998. *

NOAA-10 NOAA-10, known as NOAA-G before launch, was an American weather satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for use in the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS). It was the t ...

- Launched on 17 September 1986. Deactivated on 30 August 2001. *

NOAA-11 NOAA-11, known as NOAA-H before launch, was an American weather satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for use in the National Operational Environmental Satellite System (NOESS) and for support of the G ...

- Launched on 24 September 1988. Deactivated on 16 June 2004. *

NOAA-12 NOAA-12, also known as NOAA-D before launch, was an American weather satellite operated by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an operational meteorological satellite for use in the National Environmental Satellite, Data, an ...

- Launched on 14 May 1991. Deactivated on 10 August 2007. *

NOAA-13 NOAA-13, also known as NOAA-I before launch, was an American weather satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA-I continued the operational, polar orbiting, meteorological satellite series operated by ...

- Launched on 9 August 1993. Failure after 12 days (21 August 1993). *

NOAA-14 NOAA-14, also known as NOAA-J before launch, was an American weather satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA-14 continued the third-generation operational, Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite (PO ...

- Launched on 30 December 1994. Deactivated on 23 May 2007. *

NOAA-15 NOAA-15, also known as NOAA-K before launch, is an operational, polar-orbiting of the NASA-provided Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) series of weather forecasting satellite operated by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra ...

- Launched on 13 May 1998. Still in Use. *

NOAA-16 NOAA-16, also known as NOAA-L before launch, was an operational, polar orbiting, weather satellite series (NOAA K-N) operated by the National Environmental Satellite Service (NESS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). N ...

- Launched on 21 September 2000. Deactivated on 9 June 2014. *

NOAA-17 NOAA-17, also known as NOAA-M before launch, was an operational, polar orbiting, weather satellite series (NOAA K-N) operated by the National Environmental Satellite Service (NESS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). N ...

- Launched on 24 June 2002. Deactivated on 10 April 2013. *

NOAA-18 NOAA-18, also known as NOAA-N before launch, is an operational, polar orbiting, weather satellite series (NOAA K-N) operated by the National Environmental Satellite Service (NESS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NO ...

- Launched on 20 May 2005. Still in use. **

MetOp-A Metop (Meteorological Operational satellite) is a series of three polar-orbiting meteorological satellites developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and operated by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellite ...

- Launched on 19 October 2006 from

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. Still in use. *

NOAA-19 NOAA-19, known as NOAA-N' (NOAA-N Prime) before launch, is the last of the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) series of weather satellites. NOAA-19 was launched on 6 February 2009. NOAA-19 is in an afternoon Sun-sy ...

- Launched on 6 February 2009, the fifth and last in the current series of polar-orbiting satellites Still in use. ** MetOp-B - Launched on 17 September 2012 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan."MetOp-B Launches with NASA Goddard-Developed Instruments".
''NASA'' Retrieved: 21 June 2012 Still in use. ** MetOp-C - Launched on 7 November 2018 from

Kourou Kourou () is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It i ...

, Centre Spatial Guyanais. Still in use. The MetOp missions are not part of POES, but use POES heritage instruments.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Weather satellites of the United States

Daily global coverage

Applications

SARSAT

Mission

See also

References