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Antarctic Ice Coverage (QuikSCAT generated image - 16 K GIF)
Greenland (Ice Extent mapping of Greenland - 49 K JPEG)
Hurricane Dora (Wind based image - 119K GIF)
Hurricane Floyd (Wind based image - 135 K JPEG)
South Georgia Island (Wind based image - 147K JPEG)
World Wind Patterns (Wind based image 61K JPEG)
World Wind and Ice (Wind and Ice combined - 114 K JPEG)
NASA Winds Program
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The latest product for NASA's winds program is the Seawinds on QuikSCAT mission. The purpose of the NASA Winds program is to measure, through satellites, the weather over the entire ocean surface. It is easy to measure the weather on land; a person can step outside and measure temperature, wind direction, atmospheric pressure, and humidity. However, over 70 percent of the earth's surface is water; it is much more difficult to measure the weather over the ocean. Ships can make measurements when they travel, or buoys can be placed in certain areas, but these two devices can only cover a small fraction of the entire surface of the ocean. Another option is a setellite which can view the Earth's surface every day.
The technique that Winds satellites, such as QuikSCAT, employ to look at the weather over the ocean is called scatterometry. A scatterometer is a type of radar that transmits bursts of microwave energy and measures what bounces off the earth and back to the satellite. By taking several measurements from an area of the ocean, the speed and direction of the wind can be calculated. By knowing the speed and direction of the wind over the entire ocean, global weather patterns can be predicted. Thus, through satellite scatterometry weather predictions can be more accurate and better preparation for large storms can be made, which could possibly save lives.
