1 00:00:00,050 --> 00:00:04,100 [slate] 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:08,120 [slate] 3 00:00:08,140 --> 00:00:12,180 So a geostationary satellite 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:16,290 is one that is 22,000 miles above the Earth and it basically 5 00:00:16,310 --> 00:00:20,420 stays in a constant position so it keeps track of the current weather 6 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:24,600 watches what's going on today over the continental United States. A polar 7 00:00:24,620 --> 00:00:28,680 orbiter is much closer in. 500 miles above the Earth 8 00:00:28,700 --> 00:00:32,780 and actually rotates and continues or 9 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:36,940 continues to orbit as the Earth rotates so it covers the entire globe twice 10 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:41,120 a day. That actually gives us a snapshot of all the weather around the world 11 00:00:41,140 --> 00:00:45,210 temperature and humidity and we feed that into global weather models in order to 12 00:00:45,230 --> 00:00:49,230 to provide a forecast out 3-7 days. 13 00:00:49,250 --> 00:00:53,240 [slate] 14 00:00:53,260 --> 00:00:57,310 So we're trying improve our capabilities 15 00:00:57,330 --> 00:01:01,420 to forecast the weather out 3-7 days 16 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,580 because it's very important for emergency weather managers 17 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:09,630 for folks to be able to predict what's going to happen and then 18 00:01:09,650 --> 00:01:13,720 stage for severe weather or plan marine 19 00:01:13,740 --> 00:01:17,830 routing for marine transportation that brings in goods or services to and 20 00:01:17,850 --> 00:01:21,970 from the country. Agriculture, do you irrigate 21 00:01:21,990 --> 00:01:26,040 a particular area or is it going to rain. All those types of things 22 00:01:26,060 --> 00:01:30,100 forecasts or predictive capabilities that polar satellites bring. 23 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:34,160 [slate] 24 00:01:34,180 --> 00:01:38,330 So geostationary 25 00:01:38,350 --> 00:01:42,410 satellites as you asked in your first question provide 26 00:01:42,430 --> 00:01:46,500 that now-casting capability - watching what's happening now 27 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:50,630 where is the severe weather. But the polar satellites compliment that by saying 28 00:01:50,650 --> 00:01:54,790 what's going on around the world overall 29 00:01:54,810 --> 00:01:58,890 there might be weather out off of China today, but that moisture 30 00:01:58,910 --> 00:02:02,990 may be in the Pacific northwest of the United States in just several days. 31 00:02:03,010 --> 00:02:07,120 So getting that picture with those polar satellites is also key 32 00:02:07,140 --> 00:02:11,160 to the overall forecast process. 33 00:02:11,180 --> 00:02:15,190 [slate] 34 00:02:15,210 --> 00:02:19,380 So this new satellite actually helps to predict 35 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:23,460 the potential for these types of outbreaks 36 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:27,560 but then we would be tracking them with the geostationary satellites or even with ground 37 00:02:27,580 --> 00:02:31,710 radars, when we're talking about minute by minute 38 00:02:31,730 --> 00:02:35,790 because minutes count for tornados. But in order 39 00:02:35,810 --> 00:02:39,880 to be prepared and have folks aware and ready to monitor 40 00:02:39,900 --> 00:02:43,980 those the polar satellite is very key for that forecast 41 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,010 capability. 42 00:02:48,030 --> 00:02:52,170 [slate] I'm excited 43 00:02:52,190 --> 00:02:56,350 that this will join our latest geostationary satellite 44 00:02:56,370 --> 00:03:00,410 in orbit. The United States will have two 45 00:03:00,430 --> 00:03:04,500 newest generation of technology - geostationary and polar satellites 46 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:08,650 at the same time. So that really brings a great 47 00:03:08,670 --> 00:03:12,840 capability to the National Weather Service and the nation for protecting lives and property 48 00:03:12,860 --> 00:03:16,860 [slate] 49 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:21,030 So the data 50 00:03:21,050 --> 00:03:25,100 for this with this predictive capability and with the monitor actually affects us 51 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:29,200 a whole host of economic activities from 52 00:03:29,220 --> 00:03:33,320 the aviation sector making sure folks can fly safely across the country. 53 00:03:33,340 --> 00:03:37,470 That you don't find out about your delay at the airport, you find out well in advance 54 00:03:37,490 --> 00:03:41,570 marine transportation can 55 00:03:41,590 --> 00:03:45,650 go around storms to make sure goods come in and out of the country 56 00:03:45,670 --> 00:03:49,780 Irrigation for agriculture we 57 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,940 will know when to turn it on if it's going to rain we don't necessarily 58 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:58,010 have to. Those sorts of things are areas where we'll have economic impact 59 00:03:58,030 --> 00:04:02,030 [slate] 60 00:04:02,050 --> 00:04:06,140 Please follow our Twitter 61 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:12,933 feed @noaa satellites to get updates on launch.