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Earth observation satellite
 
 
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Earth observation satellites are satellite
Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an Physical body which has been placed into orbit by human endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
s specifically designed to observe Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
 from orbit
ORBit

ORBit is a Common Object Request Broker Architecture 2.4 compliant Object Request Broker . It features mature C , C++ and Python bindings, and less developed bindings for Perl, Lisp , Pascal , Ruby , and Tcl....
, similar to reconnaissance satellites but intended for non-military uses such as environment
Natural environment

The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a term that encompasses all life and non-living things occurring nature on Earth or some region thereof....
al monitoring, meteorology
Meteorology

Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting . Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the eighteenth century....
, map making etc. Geostationary satellites hover over the same spot, providing continuous monitoring to a portion of the Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
's surface. Polar orbiting satellites provide global coverage, but only twice per day at any given spot.

ather satellite is a type of satellite
Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an Physical body which has been placed into orbit by human endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
 that is primarily used to monitor the weather
Weather

Weather is a set of all the Phenomenon occurring in a given atmosphere at a given time. Weather phenomena lie in the hydrosphere and troposphere....
 and climate
Climate

Climate encompasses the temperatures, humidity, atmospheric pressure, winds, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other Meteorology elements in a given region over long periods of time, as opposed to the term weather, which refers to current activity of these same elements....
 of the Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
.






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Earth observation satellites are satellite
Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an Physical body which has been placed into orbit by human endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
s specifically designed to observe Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
 from orbit
ORBit

ORBit is a Common Object Request Broker Architecture 2.4 compliant Object Request Broker . It features mature C , C++ and Python bindings, and less developed bindings for Perl, Lisp , Pascal , Ruby , and Tcl....
, similar to reconnaissance satellites but intended for non-military uses such as environment
Natural environment

The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a term that encompasses all life and non-living things occurring nature on Earth or some region thereof....
al monitoring, meteorology
Meteorology

Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting . Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the eighteenth century....
, map making etc. Geostationary satellites hover over the same spot, providing continuous monitoring to a portion of the Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
's surface. Polar orbiting satellites provide global coverage, but only twice per day at any given spot.

Weather

A weather satellite is a type of satellite
Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an Physical body which has been placed into orbit by human endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
 that is primarily used to monitor the weather
Weather

Weather is a set of all the Phenomenon occurring in a given atmosphere at a given time. Weather phenomena lie in the hydrosphere and troposphere....
 and climate
Climate

Climate encompasses the temperatures, humidity, atmospheric pressure, winds, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other Meteorology elements in a given region over long periods of time, as opposed to the term weather, which refers to current activity of these same elements....
 of the Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
. Satellites can be either polar orbiting, seeing the same swath of the Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
 every 12 hours, or geostationary, hovering over the same spot on Earth by orbiting over the equator while moving at the angular velocity of the Earth's rotation. These meteorological satellite
Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an Physical body which has been placed into orbit by human endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
s, however, see more than cloud
Cloud

A cloud is a visible mass of Drop or frozen crystals floating in the Celestial body atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body....
s and cloud systems. City lights, fire
Fire

Fire is the oxidation of a combustion material releasing heat, light, and various Chemical reaction products such as carbon dioxide and water....
s, effects of pollution
Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms ....
, auroras, sand and dust storms, snow
Snow

Snow is a type of precipitation in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. The process of this precipitation is called snowfall....
 cover, ice
Ice

Ice is a solid phases of matter, usually crystalline solid, of a non-metallic substance that is liquid or gas at room temperature, such as ammonia ice or methane ice....
 mapping, boundaries of ocean current
Ocean current

An ocean current is continuous, directed movement of ocean water. The currents are generated from the forces acting upon the water like the Earth's rotation, the wind, the temperature, salinity differences and the tide....
s, energy
Energy

In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
 flows, etc., are other types of environmental information collected using weather satellites.

Weather satellite images helped in monitoring the volcanic ash cloud from Mount St. Helens
Mount St. Helens

Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States....
 and activity from other volcanoes such as Mount Etna
Mount Etna

Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina, Italy and Catania. Its Arabic name was Jebel Utlamat ....
. Smoke from fires in the western United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 such as Colorado
Colorado

The State of Colorado is a U.S. state located in the Mountain States of the United States of America. Colorado may also be considered to be a part of the Western United States and Southwestern United States regions of the United States....
 and Utah
Utah

The State of Utah is a western United States U.S. state of the United States. It was the List of U.S. states by date of statehood admitted to the United States on January 4, 1896....
 have also been monitored.

El Niņo and its effects on weather are monitored daily from satellite images. The Antarctic ozone hole is mapped from weather satellite data. Collectively, weather satellites flown by the U.S., Europe, India, China, Russia, and Japan provide nearly continuous observations for a global weather watch.

Environmental monitoring

Other environmental satellites can detect changes in the Earth's vegetation, sea state, ocean color, and ice fields. By monitoring vegetation changes over time, droughts can be monitored by comparing the current vegetation state to its long term average. For example, the 2002 oil spill off the northwest coast of Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 was watched carefully by the European ENVISAT, which, though not a weather satellite, flies an instrument (ASAR) which can see changes in the sea surface.

Mapping

Terrain can be mapped from space with the use of satellites, such as RADARSAT-1
RADARSAT-1

RADARSAT-1 is Canada's first commercial Earth observation satellite. It was launched at 14h22 Coordinated Universal Time on November 4, 1995 from Vandenberg AFB in California, into a sun-synchronous orbit above the Earth with an altitude of 798 kilometers and inclination of 98.6 degrees....
.

See also

  • Earth Observing System
    Earth Observing System

    The Earth Observing System is a program of NASA comprising a series of artificial satellite missions and scientific instruments in Earth orbit designed for long-term global observations of the land surface, biosphere, earth's atmosphere, and oceans of the Earth....
     - a NASA program comprising a series of satellite missions
  • List of Earth observation satellites
    List of Earth observation satellites

    Partial list of Earth observation satellites by series/program.*See also: Timeline of Earth science satellites, unmanned space missions, satellites...