AMRC Antarctic Satellite Composite Imagery, 1992 - present (ongoing).

The development of the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center (AMRC) was a marriage between the AWS project and the Man computer Interactive Data Access System (McIDAS) project, also at the UW-Madison. The need for improved Antarctic forecasts, and the potential to develop a mosaic of satellite imagery from both geostationary and polar orbiting satellites over the Antarctic drove the formation of two groups: One that provided weather forecasts in support of research vessels in Antarctic waters, the Antarctic Meteorological Forecasting Center (AMFC), and one that focused on the development of composite satellite imagery and Antarctic meteorological data collection, distribution and archiving, the AMRC. The AMFC provided forecasts for USAP research vessels for several years before the NSF retired this activity and eventually moved it to the United States Naval Warfare System Center (SPAWAR) Office of Polar Programs. While the AMFC no longer exists, the AMRC continues to: create Antarctic satellite composites; conduct scientific research with those composites and other observational datasets; collect, distribute and archive Antarctic data; and promote Antarctic science through educational outreach activities.

The development of Antarctic satellite composite imagery in 1992 revolutionized the view of weather systems around the Antarctic, especially for weather forecasting. Professor Stearns saw the utility in having satellite composites made from both geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites over the Antarctic and adjacent Southern Ocean as a frequently routinely available product. These observations have supported meteorological research and other science investigations for over a decade and a half. They have inspired a variety of applications.

Fig4A recent application of the composite satellite imagery is tests of deriving atmospheric motion vectors. Currently, geostationary and polar-orbiting satellite observations can be used to generate wind vectors based on cloud motions or water vapor target movements over a series of three satellite images. However, the paths of the geostationary and polar orbiting satellites leave a band of high latitudes not covered near the Antarctic/Southern Ocean and near the Arctic. Current efforts are under way to generate atmospheric motion vectors to fill in these “rings” of missing derived wind vectors. With this gap covered, observations helpful to forecasting efforts in these parts of the world will be advanced and offer input to numerical weather prediction models. Parallel studies are being performed to test the ability to track whole cloud/storm systems with these composites.

While Antarctic satellite composites have been available, it was not until 2007 that there was a complete Arctic satellite composite with the coverage, scale and resolution found in its Antarctic cousin. Funded by the Arctic Natural Sciences Program, Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation, these composites have already been used in their earliest form to support studies of Arctic pollution. They have been used operationally to support the Polar Study using Aircraft, Remote Sensing, Surface Measurements and Models, of Climate, Chemistry, Aerosols, and Transport (POLARCAT) and Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) campaigns during the International Polar Year. They will be available for use in the classroom via the Unidata program, Internet Data Distribution (IDD), joining the Antarctic infrared composite, now in its sixteenth year of its availability to the University and educational community.

Improvements to the Antarctic and Arctic satellite composites are always in progress. Creating composites in additional spectral channels, such as water vapor and experimental visible, have been achieved since the development of the initial infrared satellite composite. A “pseudo-color” composite was made, placing clouds and perhaps some sea ice seen in the infrared composite over the NASA Blue Marble background. The resolution of all composites has been improved from the 10-kilometer to the current 5-kilometer nominal resolution. Current efforts underway include expanding the spectral channels to include long wave and short wave infrared and other visible/infrared combinations. Recently, the temporal resolution of the Antarctic composites has been increased to hourly availability, a significant improvement over the previous 3-hourly availability. Improving satellite acquisition, adding recently launched satellites, and better combination techniques of the satellite source data mark the third generation of evolution of the satellite composites.

Additional Info