| Humanriff |
| (Verified CFHC User) |
| Wed Sep 20 2006 02:41 PM |
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AL 962006
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Can anyone explain to me why the western part of the Horn of Africa and the Atlantic close to it are "blacked out" on most of the satellite images? This is where a lot of the storms form, and it is frustrating not to be able to see this part of the world. I know that it didn't used to be like this. Is this political or technical?
| Clark |
| (Meteorologist) |
| Wed Sep 20 2006 03:32 PM |
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Re: AL 962006
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Two factors: GOES-EAST cannot view that far west without serious distortion, thus giving the appearance of black regions on the satellite image (e.g. http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/east/catl/avn-l.jpg), while METEOSAT/MSG-1 data are available only every 6hr to the public except by special agreement. Thus, on pages like http://weather.msfc.nasa.gov/GOES/globalir.html, you'll only see images there every 6hr or so. That's a decision made by the European Union nations that are part of the METSAT group.
| Unregistered User |
| (Unregistered) |
| Thu Sep 21 2006 05:25 PM |
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Re: AL 962006
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Good hourly images available here:
http://oiswww.eumetsat.org/SDDI/cgi/listImages.pl?m=bnw
(change sector to full disc or 4 ot 5)
and here:
http://www.eumetsat.int/Home/Main/Image_Gallery/Derived_Product_Imagery/index.htm?l=en
(Choose dust or airmass etc ans sectors as above)
Gibli
| Myles |
| (Weather Hobbyist) |
| Tue Sep 26 2006 10:37 AM |
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Re: AL 962006
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Clark, do you know why they made that decision? What's to gain in restricing the availibility of satellite pics from the public?
| Clark |
| (Meteorologist) |
| Fri Sep 29 2006 01:05 AM |
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Re: AL 962006
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It was made a long time ago, though for what reasons I'm not sure -- perhaps political or economic/competative in nature. Ed might know better than I.
Ed Dunham
|
| (Former Meteorologist & CFHC Forum Moderator (Ed Passed Away on May 14, 2017)) |
| Fri Sep 29 2006 03:17 AM |
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Re: AL 962006
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The only thing that I ever heard was that it was strictly for monetary reasons. Usually weather data is free - worldwide. However, when METEOSAT was first launched, certain entities were willing to pay a fee for more frequent access to the data and the EU liked the idea as a means of offsetting costs. I guess that money rules - even in the weather business.
ED