Phys.org July 1, 2021
To bring more data to forecasters and have a more consistent watch over Earth’s tropical belt where these storms form, NASA has launched a test satellite (pathfinder) ahead of a constellation of six weather satellites called TROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats) planned for launch in 2022. The TROPICS satellites will work together to provide near-hourly microwave observations of a storm’s precipitation, temperature, and humidity—a revisit time for these measurements not currently possible with other satellites. The new constellation will provide high frequency temperature and humidity soundings as we seek to learn how hurricanes interact with the surrounding temperature and moisture environment that could improve hurricane intensity forecasts…read more.
Credit: NASA