Group for Earth Observation

The Independent Amateur Quarterly Publication for
Earth Observation and Weather Satellite Enthusiasts

Number 24
December 2009
Inside this issue . . .
Ken Morgan provides anAustralian perspective on
the recent Lake Eyre
flooding episode.

EUMETSAT held its 2009Users’ Conference in Bath,England. David Taylor
attended and provides areport and photographic
diary of the event.

Ed Murashie reports on an
event from across the
Atlantic, the Satellite
Educator's Association's
Satellite and Education
Conference in Unionville,
Pensylvania.

There was an unusually
dominating high pressure
event over Greenland thissummer. Robert Moore andAlan Banks provide anillustrated report on theoccurrence.

Jerry Martes asks: ‘Whichis the best antenna for
APT reception?’ Jerry
expresses his own
thoughts and invites
readers to join in thediscussion.

Plus features on Lake
Chad, the Aral Sea,
Hurricane Rick and much
more ...

Eric Dean spotted an extraordinary cloud feature, which he likened to smoke from a forest fire, plunging southward from the Alps as far as Sardinia
in this Meteosat-9 segment taken from the 07:45 UT image on May 29, 2009. However, by 09:00 the cloud was already thinning rapidly and by
midday had largely dispersed. Readers’ comments explaining the origin and mechanism of this event will be welcomed.

EUMETCast on a Widescreen Monitor
Robert Moore

At the Guildford symposium, I noticed and admired a very
wide-screen monitor being used by Arne van Belle. The
Samsung SyncMaster 2429HS, it is not as expensive as I
feared and I have now acquired one of my own. This enables
me to have my EUMETCast data continuously displayed on
my desk, leaving my main PC free and uncluttered for otherwork. The picture above shows the screen in operation; theparticular configuration of windows is not significant—it's
just how the screen happened to be when I took the screen
shot. Animated imagery is not recommended for the second
screen unless you want to be hopelessly distracted from thework on the other screen.

My Dell Optiplex 745 PC has a graphics card that supports
two monitors working at different resolutions; if your carddoes not support this facility it would be very difficult to use
two screens effectively, if at all.
The Samsung has a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. My
best first experience of the screen resolution was a clear viewof the Himalayas from Metop-A.
At 52 centimetres wide—just over half a metre—the image
was breathtaking. And it’s proving great for images of the
UK and North Atlantic too.

The GEO Quarterly

GEO MANAGEMENT TEAM
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Francis Bell,
Coturnix House, Rake Lane,
Milford, Godalming, Surrey GU8 5AB
England.
Tel:
01483 416 897
email: francis@geo-web.org.uk
General Information
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email: info@geo-web.org.uk
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email: geoeditor@geo-web.org.uk
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email: meteo@geo-web.org.uk
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email: tech@geo-web.org.uk
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e-mail: ray-geo@lescharriols.eu
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email: tech@geo-web.org.uk
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Tel:01769 580 700
email: international@geo-web.org.uk
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Publisher
Published by The Group for Earth
Observation Limited, a company in Englandand Wales, limited by guarantee and nothaving share capital.
Company number 4975597.
The registered office is Coturnix House, Rake
Lane, Milford, Godalming, Surrey GU8 5AB
England.
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Responsibility
Every effort is made to ensure that thetechnical and constructional articles publishedin this Quarterly are correct. However, theultimate responsibility is with the reader toensure the safety of constructions and for any
interfacing with other equipment. GEO cannot
accept liability for shortcomings in any
published design or any constructions carriedout by members or other third parties.
Copyright GEO © 2009
The contents of this Quarterly remain theintellectual property of the Group for Earth
Observation Ltd. and its contributors. Copyingof text or images, either from the printed
Quarterly or from any electronically stored
source, is forbidden without permission fromthe Editor.

December 2009
Editorial: Les HamiltonT

his issue of GEO Quarterly comes as our once fledgling organisation reaches
maturity on completion of its sixth full year. Membership is, albeit slowly, on
the increase and interest in satellite imaging—particularly APT—remains strong.
Sadly, it is proving ever more difficult to encourage readers to submit articles for
the Quarterly: a few stalwarts can always be relied upon but the vast majority
appear reticent about sharing their interests, experiences and queries with us.
his issue coincides with my retiral as Editor. I had, as some may recall,originally planned to step down at the end of 2007 but, in the absence of a
successor at that time, have been deferring my departure until now. Peter Greenhas offered to step into my shoes and I have been working with him since thestart of this year, explaining the various processes in creating GEO Quarterly
magazines. I will remain on hand behind the scenes to advise and help him as
he assumes the editor’s mantle for the March 2010 issue. Please continue tosend submissions to geoeditor@geo-web.org.uk, as this email address will shortly
be redirected towards Peter.
t has been a privilege to serve GEO as editor throughout these years but
interests change. I got hooked on APT back in 1987 when the school where I
worked invested in an early weather satellite receiver for the BBC B microcomputer. I still have a general affection for APT, but the world of EUMETCast,
with its veritable torrent of imagery, complex batch files and RAM drives holds
little attraction for me. Like the Ancient Mariner, I need to cast off what has
become a tiresome encumbrance to me and free myself to enjoy my many otherinterests, in particular bowls, tennis and hillwalking.
would have loved to be able to sign off by making up a ‘bumper’ December
issue but found myself hard pressed to complete even the 36-page Quarterly
you now hold in your hands. Making up the Quarterly is a time-consuming
enough task on its own without my having to source material for eight of thesepages myself! To soften the blow, I have included considerably more colour thenusual, and hope that the many magnificent images from NASA’s Earth
Observatory will strike a chord with readers.
inally, on behalf of the entire Management Team, I would like to thankreaders for their support over the years, and wish everyone the most pleasantChristmas and New Year.

T

I
I

F

Contents
EUMETCast on a Widescreen Monitor
GEO Report
British Science Festival 2009
Cover Colour Images
Free Publications
The Heiltskuk Icefield
Wrangell Island
Enthusiasm Abounds at the SEA Conference
Orographic Lifting in the Rocky Mountains
Antenna Spotting
Lena River Image
Ash and Steam Plume from Soufriere Hills Volcano
Computer Controlled Tracking HRPT System
Feng Yun-2C image Typhoon Mirinae
GEO ShopCreate your own Satellite Predictions with WXtrack
Helplines and Internet Discussion Groups
Copy Deadline for the next issue of GEO Quarterly
GEO Membership Renewal Form
Which is the Best Antenna for APT Reception
Lake Eyre Fills ... an Australian view
Sarychev Peak Eruption - Kuril Islands
Land of Terror - Algeria’s Tanezrouft Basin
August High Pressure Regime over Greenland
Weather Satellite Launch Generates UFO Reports
Northern Aral Sea Rides Wave of Optimism
Unusual Cloud Feature off the Queensland Coast
Hurricane Rick
Lake Chad
EUMETSAT User Conference, Bath, UK
Computer Corner
Feedback
Installing the ‘Dataram’ RAM Disk

Robert Moore
Francis Bell
Francis Bell

Inside front cover2
3
4
Francis Bell
5
NASA Earth Observatory
6
NASA Earth Observatory
8
Ed Murashie
9Keith Fraser
12David and Cecilia Taylor
14
Robert Moore
15
NASA Earth Observatory
16
Kevin Nice17
18
Les Hamilton

Jerry Martes
Ken Morgan
NASA Earth Observatory
NASA Earth Observatory
Robert Moore and Alan BanksPeter Wakelin
EurasiaNet
Ken Morgan and Mike Willmott
John Tellick
Anders Höök
David Taylor
Douglas Deans
Readers’ Letters
Mike Stevens

i
ii
iii
iii
iv
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20
22
23
25
26
27
28
30
31
32
34
35
36

GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

December 2009

Francis Bell
Since our Symposium last July, GEO has been active at several
other meetings around the country.
KemptonOn September 27, GEO attended the West London Radio andElectronics Show held at Kempton. As usual we established live
EUMETCast reception via a dish, quickly positioned outside theexhibition hall. On our stand we had our own literature plus posters
and other materials provided by EUMETSAT. We also had on
display APT and EUMETCast receivers (photo: page 6). It’s difficult
to be precise about numbers but we had about 200 visitors to ourstand. It was great to meet two very supportive GEO members,
Valerie and Eric Dean who had come from east Kent for this show.
There is a slight question mark in my mind about attending thisshow on a regular basis although it’s very rewarding meetingpeople. I have a feeling that they are more-or-less the same people
each time. Perhaps GEO should consider attending a more diverse
range of events, generating a potential for meeting new people
who may be interested in GEO’s activities. The South London
Computer Show has been suggested as a new venue for us but if
any member has any idea or suggestion for GEO to attend shows,
exhibitions, rallies or other events, please let me know.
Telford
The Telford and District Amateur Radio Society have held annual
radio rallies for a long time, and for the past five years at
Ironbridge, Shropshire. The town of Ironbridge is representative of
the industrial revolution in the eighteen fifties and the area is now
full of museum and exhibition sites. This rally was located in‘Enginuity Exhibition Hall’ which is the permanent home for large
machinery associated with the industrial revolution.
GEO received an invitation to attend this rally and our stand wasestablished between large and ancient machines. As the only GEO
representative there, I was unable to run live EUMETCast
reception but otherwise our stand was as attractive, colourful andinformative as usual. Our stand did not look out of place between
the large machinery because the whole exhibition area was filled
by similar radio and computer related stands (photo on page 6).
GEO was time-tabled for both morning and afternoon presentation,and I was pleased with the number of people who speculatively
took time out of their day to attend. The assumption was thatthose present would want to know which operational weather
satellites were up in space and how to receive their signals, I
discussed both polar orbiting and geostationary satellites, and how
their signals could be received. I had with me an APT and
DVBWorld receiver together with a turnstile antenna and a dishand detailed example images were displayed on the GEO stand in
the exhibition hall. The examples I showed during my talks related
to the difference in perspective and resolution between APT, with
its vertical view of the Earth, compared with the more distantoblique geostationary view.
Subsequently I received an encouraging letter from the organisers
saying that the feedback they had received relating to GEO’s
presence at the rally was very positive; they also invited GEO toreturn again next year, on Sunday September 5, 2010.
National Hamfest
I’m a little unsure about the antecedents of this National Hamfest,2

held at the Newark showground on October 2-3. The show wasorganised by the Lincoln Short Wave Club but seemed to besponsored by the RSGB—and there was some Irish connection .
Whatever the background, GEO attended for both days.
After some negotiation relating to cable runs for our live
EUMETCast reception, we were eventually provided with a stand in
the main exhibition area. The exhibition hall was like a small
aircraft hanger with exhibition stands lining the edges and islandsin the central area. We were allocated space on one of the islands.
Resourcefully, a dish was located just outside one corner of thebuilding and the coax routed overhead to our stand. David
Anderson, who attended both days with me, kindly provided two
computers and ran spectacular live EUMETCast images on bothdays. Another computer on the stand provided archived APT
images and occasionally ran a visual presentation relating to GEO
activities. We had GEO literature plus materials kindly provided by
EUMETSAT specially for this event. My thanks to EUMETSAT for
providing their public relations materials—never mind about
technical literature—all that the visitors to our stand want are the
EUMETSAT pens and key-rings!
David and I judged that the two busy days we spent at thisNational Hamfest were very worthwhile in terms of the numbers
who visited us and the interest they showed—not to mention the
new members who joined on the spot. If this event is run next year
GEO will try to attend, perhaps with the offer of lectures similar to
those given at Telford.
GB4FUNAs well as the many open-air stands at the National Hamfest, there
was the mobile RSGB exhibition vehicle GB4FUN. I found time tovisit Carlo Eavis who manages GB4FUN. Regular readers willknow that in the past I have suggested that any spare or unused
weather satellite equipment that GEO members may have wouldfind a good home with GB4FUN. Carlos told me he had received
some equipment, for which he is grateful. However, it was clear tome from our conversation that he would prefer to have the latest
APT receiver and a EUMETCast system to demonstrate to visitors.
I will continue to work on this project on behalf of GB4FUN.
GB4FUN is run by the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB), withfunding provided by its charitable arm, the Radio Communications
Foundation (RCF). There can be no better way to advance theeducation of the public in the science and practice of radio
communication, which includes satellite reception, than this vehicle
visiting school and exhibitions. GEO will try to support GB4FUN as
best we can. For a more comprehensive background, please visit
their web site atwww.gb4fun.org

Events for 2009
At the time of writing, a date and venue for our annual symposium
has not yet been fixed. Ideas are being researched and a notice
will be published in good time for any meeting. We are also looking
at which amateur radio and electronic rallies we should attend nextyear.
Our friends in the Netherlands, Werkgroep Kunstmanen, areholding their 2010 meetings in Utrecht on January 9, March 13,
May 15, September 11 and September 13.

www.geo-web.org.uk

December 2009

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 24

Francis BellThe British Science Association held its annual British
Science Festival between the September 4 and 11, 2009,
centred at the University of Surrey (UoS) in Guildford.
Because of the breath of interest encompassed by thefestival, other venues were involved beyond the UoS's own
campus; some were still local in Surrey but there were asmall number as far afield as London. Although GEO was
not formally involved when I read the week's programme, I
was particularly attracted to two events.
University of Surrey
The University of Surrey has a world-wide reputation forspace science, including the construction and subsequent
operation of small satellites. Indeed, my first interest inamateur radio satellites was stimulated by the launch andoperation of UoSATs-1 and -2 in the 1980s. The ability toreceive telemetry and other data from them while in space
was exciting.
I also made use of their facility to send packet radio
messages around the world, using their satellites' storeand-forward systems, via a BBC microcomputer and myamateur radio links. I have visited the University of Surrey
several times and their Space Centre, where they build
satellites on the university campus. Closely associatedwith the university is Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. with
its world-wide reputation for the construction of small
satellites.
Events at the University of Surrey Venue
Three days into the festival there were lectures at UoS
relating to remote sensing. Prof Sir Martin Sweeting
presented his lecture covering the development of small
satellites from the late 1970s to the present day.
Their first of these satellites were the UoSATs, about thesize of a dustbin, but some more recent ones are about thesize of a car. Prof Sweeting emphasised the flexibility ofsmall satellite missions and told us of the four satellites
SSTL had build for the Disaster Monitoring Cluster (DMC),
a cluster of four small satellites in low Earth orbit. Eachsatellite can image the Earth but because they follow eachother in similar orbits so that they can rapidly monitor
disasters. A further speaker showed us outstanding
examples of the images these satellites produce andexplained the help they can be when monitoring adisaster. Images of the recent Indonesian Tsunami as wellas Hurricane Katrina's damage to New Orleans during
August 2005 were shown as examples.
During short sessions following each lecture, theavailability of the DMC's images was questioned. The
company owning and operating the satellites, DMC
International Imaging Ltd., currently charge for theirimages but many of those present at the lecture suggested
they should be freely available. The debate was notconclusive. To discover more about DMC and to view someexample images visit their web site atwww. DMCii.com.

The third lecture was given by Mark Doherty from ESA,
who is based in Frascati, Italy. By contrast, the example
images he showed us came from satellites as big as four orsix double-decker buses. I have subsequently discoveredthat ESA has a project—Envi-Ham—which is making someof their satellites images freely available to amateur users,and I am progressing my own reception of these images. If
I understood Mark Doherty correctly, ESA are developing asite at Harwell, Oxfordshire but I'm still on a learning
curve about this development.
The Visit to MSSL
Another venue for the festival programme was an 'OpenDay' at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) at
Holmury St Mary, which is located in beautiful
countryside about 15 miles east of Guildford. MSSL is partof University College London's Department of Physics. In
the 1960s this department needed more space so thisadditional building was purchased using a donation from
Mullard Electronics. The building was formally opened in
May 1967 with a staff of 66. Today the academic andtechnical staff number 140 and they generate an incomeof eight million pounds. MSSL has contributed to over 250
rocket and satellite missions in collaboration with major
space agencies around the world including Cassini, Giotto
and SoHO.
For MSSL's Open Day there were exhibition areas
displaying their own work, together with a small numberof related space industry stands. There was also a lecture
stream and I was particularly interested in the lecture The
Sun and its effects on Earth's Climate delivered by Prof
Louise Harra. The lecture was fascinating. I already knew
a little about solar cycles but not the detail which waspresented in the lecture and the correlation with our
Earth's climate.
Solar cycles can be traced back several thousand years
through studies of the isotopic changes they cause on
Earth. After her lecture, in conversation with Prof Harra, I
questioned the belief that the current small changes incarbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere are the causeof global warming. I suggested, with the background
dynamics of the sun and internal processes within the
Earth, that changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels
are trivial. She smiled at me but, without commitment,
agreed that a lot of people think like I do. Prof Harra is not
only very knowledgeable about solar science but is also
the most attractive university professor I have ever met.
Please can I be one of her students!
GEO did not have exhibition space during the MSSL open
day but some of our literature was on display for thoseinterested. I gave a copy of our latest Quarterly to Prof
Harra and placed another in their journal library.
BNSC
Just for the duration of the festival, a temporary exhibition
marquee was located close to the lecture theatres with
about 10 stands relating to science. Some of the stands
were distinctly space related: for example, there wasinformation from the British National Space Centre(BNSC); EADS Astrium; The National Oceanographic
Centre, Southampton; and SSTL with their own stand.
Again GEO had no formal presence but some of ourleaflets were on display.
To find out more about The British Science Association
visit their web sitewww.geo-web.org.uk

www.britishscienceassociation.org

3

GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

December 2009

Quarterly Question 23
The Question we posed you with lastissue was: ‘Can any reader, located on
mainland Europe, Great Britain or
Ireland, submit an APT image clearly
showing detail from the easternseaboard of Canada?’ Sadly, theresponse has been hugely
underwhelming with only three readersfrom a membership of over 500
contributing! We are indebted to Ericde Jong, George James and Rob
Denton (with two submissions) formaking the effort. Their APT images
appear opposite.
Quarterly Question 24
This question was prompted by a slideand commentary during Gordon
Bridge's presentation at our
Symposium last July. Gordon briefly
ran through the history of the'European Organisation for the
Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites',
more usually known by its acronym
EUMETSAT, and brought us up to datewith the current membership, which
has recently increased. There are anumber of full member states who
fund EUMETSAT plus somecooperating states. Germany, UK,
France, Italy and Spain, in that order,
are the main contributing member
states and their financial contributions
amount to 73% of EUMETSAT's
income. However there are othermembers states.

Eric de Jong from Heerenveen, Netherlands
obtained this NOAA-19 image, showing theeastern tip of mainland Canada, on September 9,
2009. The satellite reached a maximum elevationof only 4° (hence the graininess of the image).
Eric used an R2FX receiver with a WSP-137 aerialand Aircell 7 coaxial cable and processed thesignal with WXtoImg.

Another NOAA image Rob Denton discovered in
his archives.This one dates back to October 12,
2005, and clearly reveals Newfoundland and muchof Labrador as the remnants of Hurricane Wilma
drift eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Question is‘How many countries/states are
members of EUMETSAT as ofJuly 2009?’
I notice there were 18 member statesin 2005 but this figure has increased. I
will take as my reference answer the
figures shown on one of Gordon Bridge's presentation slides although themembership figures or list of current
members is published elsewhere andwill also be accessible on EUMETSAT's
web site. The small number ofcooperating states should not becounted as full members.
The reward for a correct answer ishaving your name published as anaware user of weather satellite data.
Answers to me by email tofrancis@geo-web.org.uk

before the copy deadline date for our
next Quarterly.

4

Rob Denton discovered this NOAA image while
hunting through his archives. It was captured on
March 14, 2004, Worksop, UK (before he moved
to Bulgaria) using a Dartcom System II RX andWimo X-dipole antenna without preamp. It justshows what can be achieved with simple APT
equipment.

Cover Images
Front CoverAlan Banks sent GEO this Metop-A
image dating from August 6 andrendered using HRPT Reader’svegetation mode. Alan states that what
he finds interesting are thecomparisons between the Nile Delta,
Israel and surrounding lands; theeffect of altitude in Cyprus; and the
spread of vegetation in Turkey,
particularly along the Black Sea coast.
Image © EUMETSAT 2009

George James from Elgin in Scotland delved intoa pile of old floppy discs and selected this Meteor
image dating from July 1995. It shows Greenland
at top right with the Labrador coast from Cape
Chidley to the Gulf of St Lawrence with
Newfoundland below at centre-left. Below
Newfoundland, Cape Breton Island stands out
lighter against the water of the St Lawrence Gulf.

Inside Back CoverMike Stevens captured this Metop-A
image of western Europe on
September 20, 2009 using his new
RAMDisk installation. Read more on
page 44.
Image © EUMETSAT 2009

Back CoverJohn Tellick submitted this image of
Hurricane Rick, imaged at 21:00 UT
on October 18, 2009, by NASA’s
GOES-W satellite.
Image © EUMETSAT 2009www.geo-web.org.uk

December 2009

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 24

Francis BellI receive the following publications free ofcharge. Perhaps other GEO members, if
interested, may wish to secure their own copies.
Space-UK
The British National Space Centre (BNSC)
publish Space:UK three times a year. If you
would like to receive the latest issue or beplaced on their regular mailing list, send arequest with your name and full postal address
to
BNSC Publications
Polaris House
North Star Avenue
Swindon SN2 1SZAlternatively, you can download a PDF copy
under the ‘Publications’ link on their website atwww.bnsc.gov.uk

Image
EUMETSAT publish their in-house 8-pagepamphlet Image twice a year. All the article
relate either to EUMETSAT news and policies ordirectly to weather satellites. The final page
gives a global meteorological satellite update forEurope, USA, Russia, China, Japan, India andthe Republic of Korea. This publication isavailable on-line but if you want a paper copy
write to
EUMETSAT User Services
Eumetsat - Allee 164295 Darmstadt, Germany
www.eumetsat.int
ESA Bulletin
The European Space Agency (ESA) produce
their quarterly in-house journal called the 'ESA
Bulletin'. It is a substantial publication: the lastissue (No 139) contained 92 pages full of news
about all of ESA's space programmes, including
weather satellites. I like the style of thispublication because, at the beginning of eacharticle, there is a short abstract which gives
guidance about the potential interest in the full
text. There is always an update on weather
satellites. The 'ESA Bulletin' is available on-line
atwww.esa.int/publications.

If you want the printed publication write toDistrimail
Postbus 122
2370 AC, Roelofarendsveen
The Netherlands
Planet Earth'Planet Earth' is the quarterly magazine of the
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC),
which aims to interest a broad readership. It
describes new research programmes together
with work in progress and completed projects. I
collect my current copy from the recent
Guildford based Science Festival.

The autumn 2009 issue contains 36 pages andcovers such topics as ‘Heat circulation in the
Atlantic Ocean’ and ‘Holes in the Earth's Crust’,
along with other environmental topics.
To order the most recent copy visit
www.planetearth.nerc.sc.uk

and fill in the online order request.

MSG In Orbit in Use
In 2005, EUMETSAT produced a 128 page
publication 'Meteosat Second Generation - MSG
In Orbit in Use' which I have found this to be avery useful guide to MSG and its instruments. It
is divided into seven main sections:
Images from MSG
The MSG System
Forecasting the Weather
Climate applications
The atmosphere
The Surface Environment andConclusions.
Two examples may be taken from pages 26/27
which covers the SEVIRI radiometer with its 12spectral bands while pages 28-29 describe the
GERB instrument carried by MSG. Data from the
GERB instrument is not disseminated to the
public because it is a research instrument
analysing the Earth's radiation budget. Members
who attended our 2008 symposium willremember the outstanding presentation given by
Dr John Remedios from Leicester University
relating to the data being received by this
instrument.
Over the last few years, EUMETSAT haveprovided many copies of this publication which I
have distributed to GEO members at meetings,
rallies and exhibitions. However, this publication
is now out of print—except for about 30 copies I
have in my stock. If any UK member would liketo receive one of these, please write to me
giving your full postal address together with six
first class stamps to cover P & P and I will send
you a copy. Members elsewhere in Europe may
send an email request, again with a full postal
address, and I will send you a copy.
EUMETSAT's latest edition of ‘MSG02-MSG: inorbit-in use’ is on CD. I have 10 copies of thisCD but may be able to secure additional copies
if needed. Again if you would like a copy, write
to me enclosing three first class stamps ormembers in Europe email a request to me.
My address
Francis Bell, Coturnix House,
Rake Lane,
Milford,Godalming,
Surrey GU8 5AB, UK.
Email: francis@geo-web.org.uk

www.geo-web.org.uk

5

GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

December 2009

NASA Earth Observatory

The GEO stand at Kempton running live
EUMETCast images and archived APT

GEO’s stand located between museum heavymachinery at the Telford rally

A girl visiting the GEO stand at the National Hamfest.
On the screen was an MSG image of theMediterranean. She was asked to name a particularisland. Impressively she got it right: Cyprus

The RSGB’s GB4FUN mobile exhibition anddemonstration vehicle outside the National Hamfest
at the Newark show ground

One of the stands in the exhibition marquee on the UoS
campus during the British Science Festival

John Tellick (right), in conversation withFerdinand Valk, when he represented GEO at
Werkgroep Kunstmanen’s September meetingin Utrecht, Netherlands
Photo: Ruud Jansen

The attractive Professor Louise Harra, wearing a lightcoloured blouse, pictured talking to visitors during the
MSSL Open Day

Francis Bell in conversation with visitors at the GEO
stand during the National Hamfest
Photo: David Anderson

All photographs by Francis Bell, except where stated otherwise

6

The Heiltskuk Icefield covers an
area of approximately 3,600
square kilometers in thesouthern Coast Mountains ofBritish Columbia. This detailed
astronaut photographillustrates the icefield—mostly
covered by snow across theupper mountain slopes—andtwo major valley glaciers that
extend from it. Valley glaciers
are large masses of slowly
flowing ice and entrained debris
that move downhill, carving out
wide U-shaped valleys in theprocess. The locations of former
valley glaciers can frequently be
identified by the presence of
these U-shaped valleys on a
now glacier-free landscape.
The two largest valley glaciersin the image, Silverthrone
Glacier and Klinaklini Glacier,both flow towards Knight Inlet
to the south (not shown).
Several moraines,
accumulations of rock and soil
debris along the edges andsurface of a glacier, are drawn
out into long, dark lines by theflowing ice and they extend
along the length of bothglaciers. The confluence of thetwo glaciers illustrates how amoraine, located along the sideof a glacier, can become amedial moraine in the centre of
the joined ice mass. Smaller
valley glaciers are visible near
Mount Silverthrone.
Astronaut photograph ISS020E-29216 was acquired on
August 6, 2009, with a Nikon
D3 digital camera fitted with a
400 mm lens; it is provided by
the ISS Crew Earth
Observations experiment andImage Science & Analysis
Laboratory, Johnson Space
Centre. The image was taken by
the Expedition 20 crew. The
image in this article has been
cropped and enhanced to
improve contrast. Lens artifacts
have been removed. The
International Space Station
Program supports thelaboratory to help astronauts
take pictures of Earth that will
be of the greatest value toscientists and the public, andto make those images freely
available on the Internet.

GEO Quarterly No 24

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December 2009

A NASA Earth
Observatory
ReportWrangel Island, which is part of Arctic Russia’s Chukotskiy National
Park, lies northeast of Siberia between the Chukchi and East
Siberian Seas. Skies were clear on August 18, 2008, when theModerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying
aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this splendid image.
Although Wrangel looks like bare rock, this mountainous island
supports diminutive Arctic tundra plants. 60 kilometres to the east,
along the edge of a bank of clouds, the much smaller Herald Islandis spawning a stream of Von Karman Vortices, swirling eddies
caused by the island’s obstruction to the air flow.
The ghostly white shapes northeast and immediately southwest of
Wrangel Island are sea ice. Over the course of the satellite record,
Arctic sea ice has advanced and retreated past Wrangel Island
many times. Between 1979 and 2000, the sea ice edge at the endof summer generally fell somewhere in the vicinity of Wrangel
Island, but 2008 is not the first summer when the sea ice edge hasretreated well north of the island.

8

The rocks that make up Wrangel Island were deposited between
the late Precambrian and the early Mesozoic Era. Erosion byglaciers and the weather have reworked these rocks into sands
and gravels that cover much of the surface. Barrier islands along
Wrangel’s northern rim results from sediments being reworked bywave action, suggesting that open water around Wrangel Island
has been common enough to create these surf generated
landforms.
Between 1989 and 1991, researchers collected tusks, teeth, andbones of woolly mammoth from Wrangel Island, radiocarbon datingsuggesting that they lived here as recently as 3,730 years ago,some six thousand years after the species became extinct incontinental Siberia. Now a World Heritage site, Wrangel isimportant in providing polar bear, Pacific walrus, and migratory bird
habitat.
NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data obtained from the Goddard Land
Processes data archives (LAADS).

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December 2009

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GEO Quarterly No 24

Ed Murashie
Enthusiasm! If I just had one word to describe the Satellite
Educator's Association's Satellite and Education Conference
XXII, it would be enthusiasm. Everyone, from the organisers,
to the presenters and participants, was excited to be there
and share their work, or take back what they learned to theclassrooms. But I am ahead of myself. Let me back up andexplain what the Satellite Educators Association is and what
the conference was all about.
In 1983, Helen Martin, a forward thinking math scienceteacher at Unionville High School, in Unionville,
Pennsylvania USA, set out to engage her students bybringing cutting-edge space technology to her classroom.
She was one of the first to set up a classroom weather
satellite tracking and receiving station.
In 1986, Helen received a grant to support her work andexpand it to share with other teachers. She started the first
Satellite and Education Conference in 1988, hosted by West
Chester University in Pennsylvania and sponsored by NOAA,
GE, Ball and other companies. Her friend and fellow
teacher, Nancy McIntyre, became the first conference
coordinator in 1989. Together they started The School of
Education's Educational Center for Earth Observation
Systems in 1989 to support the conference and other grantwork, such as GLOBE training [1]. Helen and others
incorporated the Satellite Educators Association (SEA) in
1989 as a means of sharing their satellite experiences in thedays before the Internet. The conference was—and still is—
the premier conference bringing teachers, students,
government agencies and industry together to promotesatellite technology.

Dr. Paula Arvedson tending the Satellite Educator Association booth

The valuable work Helen and Nancy started did not go
unnoticed by the state legislators. In 1992 Pennsylvania
House Resolution No 260 was passed proclaiming the weekof March 16-20, 1992, as ‘Space Exploration andTechnology Week’ in Pennsylvania because of Helen's andNancy's ‘Exemplary programs.’ In 2001, after Nancy passed
away, Dr Paula Arvedson, a SEA member since 1991 and on
faculty in the Charter College of Education at CSULA, took
over Nancy's work. She became a conference coordinatorand staged Satellites and Education Conference XV at
CSULA, where it has been held ever since. Dr Arvedson was
also elected president of the Satellite Educators
Association [2] from 2002 to 2006 and now serves as
Corporate Secretary.

This year's Satellite and Education Conference XXII was heldfrom August 13-15 and was hosted by the Satellite
Educators Association and California State University Los
Angeles (CSULA). Thursday began with a tour of the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), registration, tours of CSULA's
facilities and the annual Satellite Educators Association
meeting. The evening was capped off by a catered but casual
buffet dinner at Paula's home, nestled up against the San
Gabriel Mountains. The guest speakers co-mingled and got
to know each other before the following busy day ofworkshops.

Leesha Saunders working in the NOAA boothFriday started at 8 am, just outside CSULA's Golden Eagle
Ballroom, where everyone picked up their registration badge
and conference packet. Inside the ballroom, around thewalls, were exhibitors—including NOAA, SEA, JPL, Northrop
Grumman, NASA/NOAA SciJinks, American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Interorbital Systems,
NASA Education and Public Outreach at Sonoma State
University, the Los Angeles County Office of Education andauthor Robert A Black with his book ‘Lunar Pioneers’. The
exhibitors were on hand throughout the conference, whichallowed plenty of time to meet and talk with them andpickup handouts, posters, decals and books.
SciJinks [3] is an educational website for kids of all agesthat introduces them to weather-related science throughgames and activities and provides teachers with theresources to make the excitement happen. The AIAA, with
their flying UFO, caught everybody's attention and drew
them in while Dean Davis, a Senior Principal
Scientist/Engineer for Boeing Corporation, explained thecharter and fun in joining the AIAA. Dean truly is a highly
energised rocket scientist and an outstanding speaker, who
presented at the NOAA N-Prime Educator's Conference.
Interorbital Systems [4], founded in 1996 in the California
Mojave Desert, has large-scale plans to enter the space
tourism market and is currently testing their Neptune
modular rocket. One of their most interesting offerings is a
TubeSat kit, a small version of the popular CubeSat, for$8000. All you need to do is fill the 8.70 x 12.2 cm
cylindrical enclosure with your imagination, and electronics
weighing up to 0.75 kg. The amazing part of the deal is thatthe kit price includes the launch into low earth orbit
starting at the end of 2010! Sonoma State University
program [5] supports four NASA astrophysics satellites plus
accompanying educational material. Besides the large

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GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

impressive display boards, they had the biggest pop-up
astrophysics book I have ever seen. Lynn Cominsky, theEducation and Public Outreach Lead, asked some of thetoughest detailed questions about weather satellite sensors
during my presentation. Robert A Black [6] was on handwith copies of his ‘Lunar Pioneers’ space travel adventure
book. Mr Black was a writer for the popular kid's cable
television channel Nickelodeon and used his talents to write
this engaging book, which is grounded in real science.
Opening remarks started at 9 am, followed by the first
keynote speaker, Dr. Barbara Shannon, vice chair of the
California Teacher Advisory Council. I wish we could clone
this lady. Imagine a teacher who taught in the Los Angeles
schools for over 30 years and then switched into an
administrator role, not to retire in office, but to get fired up
and make a difference in the schools: that’s Dr Shannon!
She is one enthusiastic educator! Being that a large
percentage of the 150 or so attendees were students in
preparation courses on their way to becoming teachers, Dr
Shannon stirred them up and got them excited aboutteaching.
One of the fun exercises was for everyone to write on a card
a question that they had when attending school, but neverasked. Some of us, having been out of school almost as longas we were in school, wrote
questions like ‘Why do I need thisclass?’ Next, we discussed thisquestion with the person next to us
and then finally a few discussed itwith the entire group. Of course Dr.
Shannon's follow-up question was,‘Would it have made a difference toyour life if your question had beenanswered?’ This was this kind of
Dr Barbara Shannon
thinkingthat Dr. Shannon wanted
motivating the audience
the teachers always to be asking
themselves so that they could keep the kids engaged.
Another trick she taught was to have other students assist
teachers in the classroom so that more kids are involved. A
sure-fire way to have a classroom full of kids lose interest
and mentally wander off is to have a single teacher to single
student conversation.
With everybody motivated, Concurrent Sessions 1 started
with three simultaneous talks in different classrooms:
International Year of Astronomy by Robert Sparks of the
National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson Arizona,
Climate Change Info for Classroom and Home by Ron Gird of
the National Weather Service and Receive Weather Satellites
Images in Class by yours truly, Ed Murashie. Since I was
lecturing, I was unfortunately unable to attend the otheroutstanding lectures, but more information can be found in
the conference program at
http://www.sated.org

I talked about the fascinating history of the U.S. weather
satellite programs and how to receive the Automatic Picture
Transmission (APT) images directly from the satellites [7] asthey pass over the classroom. I ended my talk by mentioning
where to get satellite data on the Internet, what classroom
activities can be carried out with it and handed out a
CDROM with educational literature, Internet links, andsatellite images. At the conclusion of the session, we allreassembled in the ballroom for a Mexican buffet lunch anda chance to get to know the teachers and students.
Concurrent Sessions 2 started at 1.45 pm with three finepresentations: NPOESS - New National Weather Satellite byThomas Lee of the Naval Research Laboratory, Middle Schooland Microsatellites by Gladys Munoz, Earth Science Teacher
at NASA Explorer School, Puerto Rico and Cleaning Up Our
Oceans by Duane Larsen of the Algalita Marine Research

10

December 2009

Foundation. I attended the NPOESS (National Polar-orbiting
Operational Environmental Satellite System) session which
dealt with the next-generation weather satellites thatcombine the NOAA TIROS and Department of Defense DMSP
satellite programmes. Thomas Lee showed us simulated
NPOESS images and microwave sounder data containing
interesting weather phenomena using MODIS data. NPOESS
improves on TIROS and DMSP image quality by offering
more wavelength channels, higher resolution and moreshades of intensity. He also showed what can beaccomplished by mathematically combining channels to
distinguish smoke from blowing dust; he also introduced the
Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education
and Training [8], where you can learn more aboutatmospheric and related science through the ever-growing
library of training modules.
During his talk, Thomas used volunteers to introduce twoweather satellite concepts: image scanning andgeostationary orbits. The first volunteer clasped her hands,leaving a small opening she looked through, and moved her
hands from right to left as she stepped forward scanningeach floor tile. Thomas cleverly equated the floor tiles withpixels displayed in a satellite image. The second volunteer
circled around Thomas while Thomas moved his body sothat it always faced the volunteer, simulating ageostationary satellite orbit where the satellite ‘sees’ thesame Earth scene all the time. Excellent use of volunteers todemonstrate complex concepts.
Concurrent Sessions 3 started at 3 pm with three more finepresentations: Using Remote Telescopes by Robert Sparks,
TubeSats by Randa Milliron, CEO of InterOrbital Systems
and NOAA-19 and GOES-O by Tom Wrublewski of
NOAA/NESDIS. I attended Tom's presentation because of
my interest in weather satellites. Tom opened by playing the'GOES N Stands Ready’ video which can be viewed at
http://video.boeing.com:8080/asx_external/events/
GOES-NStandsReady300k.asx

Tom then talked about NOAA's polar and geostationary
satellites, explained their mission differences, theinstruments on board and their new improvements—and
how the data is used. Tom was proud to talk about thelatest geostationary satellite, GOES-14's, first visible image,the first solar X-ray image (taken just the day before histalk) and the anticipated first infrared image. The mostinteresting fact presented was that hurricanes have athermal infrared eye in addition to the visible eye. Scientists
are finding this infrared eye to be a better predictor of thehurricane direction. More about the National Environmental
Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) and theirsatellites can be found at
http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/

The evening was topped off by the conference banquet in theGolden Eagle Ballroom. It was a sit-down formal affair andthe dinner was delicious. Again, it was a chance to catchour breath and converse with otherparticipants. Following dinner, we wereentertained by the second keynote
speaker, Dr Josh Willis, an
Oceanographer with NASA at JPL.
Dr Willis has two distinctions, a run-inwith Rush Limbaugh [9] and being arecipient of President Obama's
Presidential Early Career Award [10] for
Dr Josh Willis
his work on the oceans and global
explaining global
warming. Dr Willis delivered a thoughtwarming and its effects
provoking talk on a hot topic (no pun
on Earth’s oceans
intended), global warming and the role
the oceans play. The basis of the talk was that there is anenergy balance between the sun's heat that warms the
Earth and the heat that the planet radiates back into space.

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December 2009

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Mankind has been adding greenhouse gases to theatmosphere which traps more energy and therefore warms
the Earth. How do we know this? Scientists measuregreenhouse gases contained in ice core samples andmeasure the ocean's temperatures and depth. One of
Dr Willis’ most interesting slides was a plot of the population
growth versus the build up of carbon dioxide and how well
the two correlated. Since the Earth is mostly covered bywater, and water has a higher specific heat capacity thanland or air, it takes more energy to raise its temperaturecompared with land and air; most of the heat absorbed by
the Earth goes into the oceans. The increasing ocean
temperatures have caused the Arctic sea ice to melt.
However, Josh explained how sea ice melting does notcontribute to increasing sea levels because sea ice alreadydisplaces sea water; land glaciers on the other hand do raise
sea levels when they melt into the sea.
It is surprising to learn that the oceans have risen
approximately 20 cm over the past 150 years. So is
increased sea level a big deal? Well it is a big deal, especiallyin certain locales such as southern California, where
officials have recently updated the 100 year flood plots toinclude major portions of low lying cities [11]. Also, thecontamination of water wells with salt water is a major
concern. Throughout Josh's talk with all of the bad news, I
kept waiting for a glimmer of hope, but that never came. So
whether you believe in global warming or not, Dr Willis' talkmade you stop and think; you can listen to more of his
concerns at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88520025

Saturday morning started with a cup of coffee and assorted
pastries and then off to Concurrent Sessions 4. The choices
were: How to Teach Space Exploration by Robert Trout, aNASA Solar System Ambassador, Astonishing Astronomy by
Pamela Whiffen, a NASA Educator Ambassador andTeaching Climate Change Using Problem-Based Learning by
Steve LaDochy and Pedro Ramirez, CSULA Geography
Professors and Josh Willis from JPL. I attended Robert
Trout's session. Mr Trout is a former
chemistry teacher who donates part ofhis time as a JPL Solar Ambassador
going around teaching K-12 kids about
space exploration. His admitted claim
to fame is attending a Save Star Trek
rally in 1967 and it's this enthusiasm
which probably leads him to thisworthy cause. He started his talk by
covering space exploration from the late
1800s with George Orwell's War of theRobert Trout exciting
the audience about
Worlds through to the present time withspace exploration
the Space Shuttle and the explorationof the stars. He finds getting kids into the history andnarrative—and asking lots of questions—gets them to put
down their mp3 players and other distractions and become
involved. Robert even made Tom Wrublewski and me show
our are age by raising our hands when he asked who
remembered the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still: theoriginal version, not the remake. Another motivating
technique was asking the kids what their most notable
space exploration events were: which invites lively classroom
discussions. Robert then had the audience talk amongst
themselves and then share ideas of how to effectively teachspace exploration—like field trips. He finished his talkshowing an amazing sequence of images of planets andstars, handing out many NASA publications and photos,
and mentioning that one of his favourite websites is
Astronomy Picture of the Day [12]. If, like Robert, you areinspired to teach kids about space exploration, you should
consider JPL's ambassador program [13], where you provide
the time and JPL supplies the NASA teaching aids andhandouts. Another option for obtaining teaching aids is tocontact JPL or visit the JPL Education Resource Center [14].

GEO Quarterly No 24

Concurrent Sessions 5 started at 10.15 am and included
After IRAS by Jillian Tromp, a Physics and Astronomy
graduate student from CSULA, Magical Mars by Nel
Graham, Eagle Rock High School Los Angeles Earth Scienceand Science Teacher and Eyes on the Earth 3-D by Kevin
Hussey, Technical Group Supervisor of JPL's Visualisation
Technology Applications and Development Group. Being
fascinated by 3-D technology, I
attended Mr Hussey's session. After
working for JPL for seventeen years
in the Image Processing Lab
processing Landsat images and thenanimations for the IMAX movie ‘Blue
Planet’ and others, Mr Hussey
decided to give the commercial
industry a try; he worked for Disneyin the feature animation department
developing their software. Eight
Kevin Hussey, who
years later he found himself back atpresented JPL's 'Eyes on
JPL as manager in the visualisation
the Earth 3-D' programlab. The one thing he learned along
the way was that if you want to get through to kids, the useof video games is an ideal way.
In creating the ‘Eyes on the Earth’ program, a visualisation
tool to help scientists to understand NASA satellite data [15],they added a game feature called Metropolis. In the game,ten cities are shown and then covered over with a carbon
dioxide map; your job is to erase the carbon dioxide map as
quickly as possible and reveal the cities. Your time iscompared with the top scores of Internet players. The kids
start to correlate the high concentration of carbon dioxidewith the city locations. The ‘Eyes on the Earth’ program isamazing, not only in its feature set, which allows current
satellite data to be overlaid on the globe, but also for the
speed at which the globe can be manipulated. This speed ismostly due to the gaming engine Unity3D [16] that is used.
Kevin was enthusiastic about his group's program and thefuture version of Metropolis for the I-phone, which will havean unusual twist, and another program called Bird Watcher.
Stay tuned.
The concluding Concurrent Sessions 6, included NASA
Swift Mission Brings You Newton's Laws by Lynn Cominsky
and Kevin John from Sonoma State University California,
Endangered Glaciers: Response to Climate Change byAngelique Hamane, Geology Professor and Shelly Shaul
graduate student both from CSULA and POES-GOES
Outreach by Tom Wrublewski of the NOAA/NESDIS [17].
Again my interest in weather satellites drove me to attend
Tom's session.

Tom Wrublewski and Ed Murashie catching up during a break

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11

GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

Tom started by showing several NOAA
videos and handing out a checklist of
NOAA/NASA GOES and POES
Outreach education materials. As Tom
went down the list, he showed an
example of the educational materials
and encouraged the audience to checkoff the items they would like and fillout the checklist.

December 2009

from August 12-14, 2010 at CSULA.
She then raffled off many nice prizes
using the tickets that were given out
in each session.

Lunch was a formal sit-down affair
Dr. Richard Shopewith a tasty chinese chicken salad
directing the Antarctic
followed by the third keynote speaker,
missionDr Richard Shope of NASA's JPL Officeof Science Research and Analysis and also NASA's
ArctiQuest Expeditions [18]. Richard was the mostflamboyant speaker and had everyone out of their chairs, ina pretend airplane flying to Antarctica to run someexperiments. When we 'landed' we put on our protective
clothing and walked around the room investigating several
tables with experiments and displays highlighting the many
properties of water, ice and dry ice. For example, there was atank of water with a block of dry ice bubbling, showing thesublimation property of dry ice next to a table with a large
block of clear ice that was being cut with a simple piece ofstring. Dr Shope pointed out that many kids have never seensuch a large block of ice and are just full of questions. Our
experiments were directed by many of Dr Shope's eager,
entertaining and knowledgeable student science coaches. Dr
Shope's teaching skills masterfully combine learning with
fun.
Following Dr Shope's talk at 2.30 pm, Dr Paula Arvedson
thanked everyone for coming and announced that next
year's Satellite and Education Conference XXIII will take place

Dr Paula Arvedson thanks
the audience for their
participation

The conference was well organised,
had many enthusiastic speakers andparticipants and was a huge
success, thanks to Dr Paula
Arvedson and many others. I lookforward to attending next year andhighly encourage others to do thesame. I also want to thank thesponsors and exhibitors for theirsupport, time and excellent
handouts.

References
1 http://www.globe.gov/
2 http://www.sated.org/
3 http://scijinks.jpl.nasa.gov/weather/
4 http://www.interorbital.com/
5 http://epo.sonoma.edu/
6 http://www.rablack.com/
7 http://www.geo-web.org.uk/apt.html
8 http://www.comet.ucar.edu/
9 http://www.usclivar.org/Newsletter/V6N2.pdf
10 http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/willis-20090713.html
11 http://www.pacinst.org/reports/sea_level_rise/report.pdf
12 http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
13 http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/
14 http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/erc.html
15 http://climate.jpl.nasa.gov/Eyes/eyes.html
16 http://unity3d.com/
17 http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/outreach_edu.html
18 http://urbansciencecorps.org/home.html

Keith Fraser
I spotted an unusual straightcloud line along the Rockies in a
NOAA-17 image on August 25
this year. Intrigued as to it’scause, I contacted Nav Canada,
whose flight service
meteorologist replied that it was
orographic lifting along the Rocky
Mountain Trench, which runs forapproximately 500 km along theeastern side of the Purcell andSelkirk ranges. The land rises
eastward out of the Trench to thehigh Prairie, forcing the air mass
to rise producing the cloud line.
I downloaded the Terra MODIS
image of the region, firstremoving artefacts with Les
Hamilton’s SmoothMODIS
software before correcting the
aspect ratio of the scene withDavid Taylor’s CorrectGeometry
program]. The result can be seenon the opposite page issue.
Terra image credit:
MODIS Rapid Response Team at
NASA/GSFC

12A NOAA 17 image showing orographic lifting over the Rocky Mountain Trench at 17:17 UT on August 25, 2009www.geo-web.org.uk

GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

December 2009David & Cecilia Taylor

During October 2009, two Canadian warships(the 5,100 tonne destroyer HMCS Athabaskan
and the 3,995 tonne frigate HMCS Halifax) andtwo Norwegian submarines (ULA S300 and
UTVAER S303) visited the port of Leith,
Edinburgh. The chance of seeing these ships,
and of being able to visit HMCS Athabaskan,provided the ideal excuse for us to visit one of
the many fine dining establishments in therevitalised port of Leith, and subsequently tovisit and photograph these vessels.
Although the popularity of the ship visits
meant that we had to queue for nearly anhour, imagine our delight when, amongst all
the radars, guns, and other equipment, we saw
the familiar sight of a QFH antenna! Is it used
for weather satellites, or maybe Orbcomm?
Sadly, we couldn't find out (many of the crew
were ashore), but it looked just like the APT
receiving antenna sold by the GEO Shop! We’repretty sure it’s for APT but would love to hearfrom any reader who knows for certain.
By the way: the name Athabaskan comes froma North American indigenous people located inwestern North America. You can see themillustrated on the ship's crest, which was madein tiles on the floor of the bridge.
More information about HMCS Athabaskan:
http://www.navy.forces.gc.ca/
athabaskan/0/0-s_eng.asp
http://www.navy.forces.gc.ca/
halifax/0/0-s_eng.asp

More information about the Athabaskans andtheir languages
HMCS Athabaskan at Leith Docks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabaskan_languages

Finding the QFH

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December 2009

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The Lena River, some 4,400 kilometres long, is one of the largest rivers in theworld. The Lena Delta Reserve (72°N, 127°E) is the most extensive protectedwilderness area in Russia and is an important refuge and breeding ground for

GEO Quarterly No 24

many species of Siberian wildlife. Robert Moore submitted this Metop-A
image he acquired on August 21, 1009, which shows the Lena meandering
across the plains of eastern Siberia towards its delta in the Laptev Sea.

Image © EUMETSAT 200915

GEO Quarterly No 24

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December 2009

A NASA Earth Observatory Report

The Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat in theLesser Antilles island chain in the Caribbean Sea has been active
since 1995. Its most recent eruptive phase began with a shortswarm earthquakes, thought to be caused by movement of magma
beneath the volcano, on October 4, 2009. This was followed by aseries of ash-venting events which create plumes of ash that canbe deposited at significant distances from the volcano. In addition
to ash plumes, pyroclastic flows and lava dome growth have beenreported as part of the current eruptive activity.

16

This astronaut photograph from the International Space Station
captures an ash and steam plume extending westwards from thevolcano on October 11, 2009. While much of the island is coveredin green vegetation, gray deposits that include pyroclastic flows andvolcanic mudflows are visible, extending from the volcano toward
the coastline. Urban areas in the northern and western portions of
the island are recognisable by linear street patterns and thepresence of bright building rooftops.

www.geo-web.org.uk

NASA Astronaut photograph ISS021-E-5555

December 2009

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 24

Kevin Nice
WiNRADiO Communications, the innovative and world- renowned
manufacturer of computer controller radio receivers, has launchedtheir latest innovative product. The WiNRADiO WSS-420 Weather
Satellite System is a complete and fully integrated
hardware/software system for capturing and processing data
streams from polar orbiting satellites in real time.
http://www.winradio.com/home/wss-420.htm

This specialist satellite receiving system represents an expansionof markets for the company. Capitalising on their considerable
knowledge and experience as recognised leaders in the field of PC
based receivers, WiNRADiO Communications has utilised theirexperience and expertise to produce the new HRPT/CHRPT
Weather Satellite System.

The antenna consists of a 1.2 m diameter parabolic steel dish witha tightly integrated prime focussed patch feeder and attached lownoise downconverter; the latter translates the 1.7GHz L-Bandfrequencies down to 140 MHz for the indoor receiver.

The WiNRADiO WSS-420 has the following key features:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

This is an HRPT pass from a NOAA series satellite
displayed by the WR-G420 software.

Fully-integrated hardware/software solution
Compact stand-alone system
Robust rotator and tripod
Easy installation, calibration and configuration
Automatic satellite dish positioning
Automatic real time orbital satellite tracking
Automatic reception scheduling
Full support for multi-spectral AVHRR data
Full support for NOAA (HRPT) and Feng Yun-1D (CHRPT)
Advanced image processing software
Automatic updating of satellite prediction data from Internet
Automatic application clock synchronisation via Internet
AVHRR data export in NOAA Level 1B (HRPT) file format

This receiver mounts internally in the PC running the system
software. It has a compact form factor and fits on to a 2/3 length
PCI plug-in card slot. The front-end employs digital synthesis forfrequency control, while data decoding and frame synchronisation
are performed in DSP firmware.
Installation and configuration is made easy by means of a userfriendly software setup wizard which will automatically detectinstalled and connected hardware. The setup software will also
assist with rotator and receiver calibration during initial installation.

The system supports HRPT data streams with 5 multi-spectral
channels from NOAA satellites and CHRPT data with 10 channels
from the Feng Yun-1D satellite. Data is available immediately after
a satellite pass and it can be exported to NOAA Level 1B (HRPT)
file format, or alternatively processed with the WR-WSDA-420
Weather Satellite Data Analyser Software option.

The WSS-G420 System Application Software can be operated
either manually or in automatic control mode. When set toautomatic mode the system can operate entirely unattended, taking
care of tracking and reception scheduling of specified satellites andsaving all received image data. Resulting images can be printed or
saved in common image formats. In addition to basic image
manipulation, the software provides advanced image processing
functions such as RGB false-colour editing of spectral channels,
noise reduction and contrast enhancement. Data output can beexported in NOAA Level 1B (HRPT) format.
All of the individual system items are available separately, including
the robust Azimuth/Elevation rotator with controller and WR-ARPELAZ-100 Antenna Rotator/Positioner with WR-RCU-100 Controller
http://www.winradio.com/home/arp-elaz-100.htm

The WSS-420 Weather Satellite System is available from
Radixon UK Ltd. Tel: +44 (0)870 446 0449
Further information is available at
http://www.radixon.co.uk
The WSS-420 is supplied with WR-G420 software for control of the tracking
and receiving hardware. Here is the satellite prediction page in operation.

The WSS-420 system's external hardware consists of high-quality
components. The dual-axis rotator is a robust unit designed withsteel gears for heavy-duty work and extended life, while offering
considerable turning and breaking torque. The rotator is controller
by a digital positioner unit that interfaces with the application
software via the computer USB port. The control unit can position
the rotator to the desired target position with an accuracy of plus orminus 0.5 degrees.

The Melbourne based Radixon Group, with branches in the UK,
USA and Slovakia have been designing innovative computer based
radio solutions since 1991. Their products are used byprofessionals and hobby users on all continents. WiNRADiO
Communications was established to commercialise a wealth ofaccumulated experience in radio communications monitoring andsurveillance technologies.
WiNRADiO Communications has succeeded in introducing a
number of world first breakthrough technologies, and is a recogniseleader in the market placewww.geo-web.org.uk

17

China’s Feng-Yun 2C geostationary satellite
provided this infrared image showing Category-2
Typhoon Mirinae closing in on the Philippines at
03:00 UT on October 30, 2009. A day later,
Mirinae, the fourth typhoon to hit the islands
within a month, drenched eastern coasts with up
to 150 millimetres of rainfall.
Image China Satellite Data Service Center (CSDSC)

December 2009

Group for Earth Observation

www.geo-web.org.uk

GEO Quarterly No 24

i

GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

December 2009

Les Hamilton
As this is the final issue of GEO Quarterly
under my editorship, I thought that a brief
tutorial in compiling your own weather
satellite pass predictions would beappropriate. Producing these lists has been
one of my more time-consuming tasks over
the years; I don’t plan to make it a ‘job forlife’ and I doubt anyone else is up for thechallenge.
In fact, everyone involved with APT
reception already possesses the necessary
software to make their own predictions.
Predictions published in GEO Quarterly area minimum of four weeks ‘old’ by the time
you receive them, a necessary time delay
due to the publishing and distribution
processes. By compiling your own you areguaranteed to have the most accurate
predictions.
This will end this anachronistic waste of apage—which could perhaps be put to better
future use displaying readers’ APT image
submissions: but that’s up to the new editor.
WxtrackDavid Taylor first wrote the popular satellite
tracking program WXtrack over a decadeago. Not only does this software provide
real-time tracking of satellites on a map of
the Earth, it also allows the user to compile
and print pass predictions for any given
location—and for up to a full month into the
future.
Updating Keplerian Elements
WXtrack contains files of satellite 2-line
element data and will prompt you whenthese become out of date. Before making
your list of satellite passes, click the Setup
tab to display the window shown in figure 1.
Use <Options → Update Keplers> to load thelatest data.
Creating Pass Predictions
In the top-left frame are two panels: the left
one, Available, lists all satellites ‘known’ to
WXtrack; the right-hand panel, Active,
contains all the satellites for which
predictions and tracking will be displayed. A
satellite’s name is switched from one panel
to the other by the simple expedient of
double-clicking on it.
The top-right frame is the Pass list
generator, which displays the predictions forthe active satellites. The instant any satellite
is added to, or removed from, the Active
panel, you will see the pass list being
updated.
Location
Of course, for best results, you want theii

Figure 1 - The Setup Window

passes to be calculated for your current
latitude and longitude. You have the optionof selecting a location from the drop-down
list in the lower-right panel (My location
details) or entering your own specific station
by clicking the <Edit> button. This reveals
the popup window shown in figure 2.
Type your own location, latitude andlongitude in the fields provided then click<OK>. If your edited location is not
immediately displayed as the default, you
can now select it from the drop-down list.
Printing Predictions
Passes can be printed out for as manydays as desired using the<Print ephemeris> button at the foot of the
Pass list generator panel. By default, just asingle day is printed but, by use of theup/down arrows adjacent to the <Make pass
list> button, this may be extended to a
maximum of 28 days.
All satellites in the ‘Active’ list are includedin the listing; if you require predictions forjust a single satellite, simply remove theunwanted ones from the Active panel by
double-clicking them.
Other Programs
The popular WxtoImg APT capture
program also allows you to make listings ofsatellite passes. WxtoImg will prompt you if
the keplers are out of date.

www.geo-web.org.uk

Figure 2 - The Edit Location Window

Click <File → Update keplers> to correct thisthen use the menu <Options → Active APT
satellites> to establish the satellite(s) for
which you wish predictions to be
calculated. Finally, select <File → Satellite
pass list>. You can use the ‘Look ahead’
selector to extend the listing to a full month;the <Print> button sends output to yourprinter.
APT Decoder can also produce
predictions. Select <Satellite → Keplerianelements> then click the <Download>
button to update the 2-line elements. Selectyour satellites by ticking the appropriate
boxes in the <Satellites → Active APT
satellites> menu then use <Satellite → Passlist> to display the predictions (no print
option).

December 2009

EUMETCast
On-Line Registration
Guide
If you require to register as a first-time user for
any of the free EUMETCast data streams such as
MSG, NOAA AVHRR, Metop etc., or need torenew an existing subscription, this must be done
on-line.
GEO has produced a step-by-step guide to theentire process at
http://www.geo-web.org.uk/eumreg.html
This guide also contains a direct link to the official
EUMETCast on-line registration form, which canotherwise prove somewhat tricky to locate.

GEO Helplines
Douglas Deans
Dunblane, Perthshire, SCOTLAND
All aspects of weather satellites from APT, HRPT
to Meteosat-8 DVB/EUMETCast systems.
• telephone:(01786) 82 28 28• e-mail: dsdeans@tiscali.co.uk
John Tellick
Surbiton, Surrey, ENGLAND
Meteosat-8 advice - registering for the various
MSG services, hardware and software installationand troubleshooting. John will also field generalqueries about any aspect of receiving weather
satellite transmissions.
• telephone: (0208) 390 3315
• e-mail: info@geo-web.org.uk
Geoff Morris GW3ATZ
Shotton, Flintshire, NE WALES
Geoff has lots of experience with aerial,coax,connectors, mounting hardware etc. and has
also done a lot of work with the orbiting satellites.
Geoff has been a EUMETCast Meteosat-8 user forsome time and is familiar with David Taylor’s MSG
software; he should be able to share his
experiences with newcomers to this branch of thehobby.
• Tel: (01244) 818252• e-mail: gw3atz@btopenworld.com
Mike Stevens
Portland, Dorset, England.
Advice offered on EUMETCast (MSG and Metop)and APT.
• email: mikeg4cfz@mypostoffice.co.uk
Guy Martin G8NFU
Biggin Hill NW Kent, ENGLAND
Guy is prepared to advise anyone who wishing toreceive MSG/Metop using Windows 2000 or XP.
Can also help with networking and ADSL router
setup..
• gmartin@electroweb.co.uk
Hector Cintron
San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA
Hector is prepared to field enquiries on HRPT,
APT, EMWIN and NOAAPORT• Phone: 787-774-8657• e-mail: n1tkk@hwic.net
Email contact can of course be made at any time,
but we would ask you to respect privacy by
restricting telephone contact to the period 7.009.00 pm in the evenings.

Group for Earth Observation

Internet
News/Discussion
GroupsThere are a numerous Internet-based discussion
groups available to weather satellite enthusiasts.
You can join any of these by sending an e-mail tothe appropriate address, with a request to
subscribe. Indeed, a blank e-mail containing theword ‘subscribe’ in its Subject line is all that isrequired. Some of the more useful groups andtheir contact addresses are listed below.
APT Decoder
This is a group where users of Patrik Tast’s
APTDecoder can share information and problems.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/
group/APTDecoder/
GEO-Subscribers
This is GEO’s own group, where members can
exchange information and post queries relating to
any aspect related to weather satellite reception(hardware, software, antennas etc), Earthobservation satellites and any GEO-related matter.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/
group/GEO-Subscribers/
Satsignal
An end-user self help group for users of David
Taylor's Satellite Software Tools (SatSignal,
WXtrack, GeoSatSignal, HRPT Reader,GroundMap, MSG Data Manager, AVHRRManager and the ATOVS Reader).
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SatSignal/
MSG-1
A forum dedicated to Meteosat Second Generation(MSG), where members share information about
the EUMETCast reception hardware and software.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MSG-1/
METOP
A forum for users of high-resolution AHRPT datafrom the MetOp satellite, available via
EUMETCast.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/METOP/
AVHRR
A forum for users who download high-resolution
EARS-AVHRR data from the NOAA polar orbiting
weather satellites via EUMETCast.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AVHRR/ATOVSA Group for discussions about using ATOVS data.
Data from the whole world is available from
CLASS (www.class.noaa.gov) and for an extended
Europe, via EUMETCast.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ATOVS/
Weather Satellite Reports
This group provides weekly reports, updates andnews on operational aspects of weather satellites.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/
group/weather-satellite-reports/
WXtoImg
Users of the WXtoImg software package for
capturing and imaging NOAA APT can air theirproblems, discuss its features and ask questions
about it.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wxtoimg-l/

www.geo-web.org.uk

GEO Quarterly No 24

The Copy Deadline for

GEO Quarterly No 25
is Saturday, January 30
The Editor is always delighted to receive
articles and images for inclusion in GEO
Quarterly. These can relate to any aspect ofEarth Imaging, especially• Technical articles concerning relevant
hardware and software• Construction projects• Weather satellite images• Reports on weather phenomena• Descriptions of readers’ satellite imaging
stations• Activities from overseas readers• Letters to the Editor• Problems and Queries for our experts toanswerContributions should of course be original and,
where possible, should be submitted to theeditor in electronic format (floppy disc, e-mailattachment, CD, DVD). But of course we will
also accept handwritten and typed copy
should the need arise.
Please note, however, that major articles
which contain large numbers of satellite
images, photographs or other illustrations
should be submitted as early as possible, sothat they can be prepared and made up into
pages in time for publication.
Images and Diagrams
Images can be accepted in any of the major
bitmap formats: JPG, BMP, GIF, TIFF etc.
Images in both monochrome and colour are
welcomed. Line drawings and diagrams are
preferred in Windows metafile and postscript
formats. We can also scan original
photographs, negatives and slides.
Gridding, Overlays and Captions
Please note that readers’ satellite images
should be provided without added grid lines,
country outlines or captions unless these areconsidered essential for illustrative purposes
within an article.
If your article submission contains embedded
images and diagrams, please note that you
must also submit the individual, original
images, in one of the formats describedabove: these are essential for page make-up
purposes.
Submission of Copy
All materials for publication should be sent to
the editor,
Peter Green‘Hollowtree’
Eggesford, Devon EX18 7QX, England.
Tel:01769 580 700
The most efficient way to do this is as email
attachments to the following address
geoeditor@geo-web.org.uk

And finally . . .
if you do have material ready for the next
issue of GEO Quarterly, please submit it assoon as it is ready—do not wait till thedeadline above: this will simply create an
editorial log-jam and delay publication.

iii

GEO Quarterly No 24

iv

Group for Earth Observation

www.geo-web.org.uk

December 2009

December 2009

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 24

Jerry Martes - email: jerrymartes@verizon.net
This article was written to express facts as I see them andall disagreements about the validity of these presented ‘facts’
will be appreciated. I did wonder if I might have been too
argumentative, but it is my intention to present data which
will prompt readers to submit their own, possibly differing
points of view.
The APT receiving antenna is expected to havehemispherical coverage so that it is capable of receiving
signals from the polar orbiting satellites without the need fora pointing mechanism. It is probable that quadrifilar helicalantennas (QFH) are used on the orbiting satellites to send
the 137 MHz signals down to Earth. NOAA certainly uses a
QFH on their polar Earth orbiting satellites.
The pathloss related to the distance from the satellite resultsin the signal being weaker when the satellite is at thehorizon compared to overhead. Therefore, the APT receiving
antenna will benefit greatly from having a radiation patternwith high sensitivity to signals at low elevation angles.
For many years, the QFH has been considered ideal for
Earth located APT antennas. It has been my observation
that, although the QFH is a decent antenna for APT, it is not
ideal because it is very demanding of the builder to carefully
follow ‘build plans’ with precision.
Many APT antenna builders enjoy the relative simplicity ofthe turnstile antenna. The turnstile is probably the easiest
antenna concept to understand and to build at home
without need for careful tuning. And, the turnstile performs
nearly as well for APT as a any other.
The Lindenblad antenna has been suggested for APT. The
Lindenblad has no application for APT because it has an
overhead null.
The double cross antenna (DCA) is an antenna designconcept that provides good sensitivity to signals from low
elevation satellites. The DCA is quite forgiving of variations
from any specific ‘plan’. It provides good sensitivity to low
elevation satellites with minimum need for precision whilebuilding it.
Quadrifilar Helical Antenna
The QFH consists basically two loops, each twisted to form
one half of the antenna. Each loop is formed to provide an
input impedance that is compatible with the other twisted
loop. So, when connected in parallel, the antenna currents
are appropriate to produce a radiation pattern that is close
to circular over the hemisphere.

Figure 1 - Schematics for QFHs twisted at 90° (left) and 180°

Turnstile
Although the turnstile antenna is quite easy to build, it does
suffer from poorer sensitivity to low elevation satellites. A
turnstile is illustrated in figure 2 below
DCA
The DCA is an antenna design concept that provides thebest performance for APT image reception compared with
the QFH or turnstile. The DCA can be build from mostconductors and low cost coax. The DCA is essentially four
dipoles, each about -wavelength long and spaced to form asquare when viewed from above, with the sides of the square
about -wavelength, as shown below (figure 3)
It is my observation that there is a reluctance amongst the
majority of APT amateurs to accept the fact that a DCA
provides appreciable improvement over any other APTantenna. I have not seen any fact or data that supports theclaim that any hemispheric coverage antenna performs
better than the DCA for APT imaging.

There is a significant problem with adjusting the two‘twisted loops’ so that their input impedances are compatible
for producing the proper currents.
The two loops of a QFH can be twisted 90 degrees or 180
degrees as shown in figure 1.
In both cases, 90° or 180°, the QFH requires precise
adjustment of the loops to provide the correct current
distribution on the loops.

Figure 2 - Schematic for a turnstile

www.geo-web.org.uk

Figure 3 - Schematic for a DCA

19

GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

December 2009

Ken Morgan VK3CEK
Located some 450 kilometres north of Port Augusta (at the top of
Spencer Gulf), South Australia, Lake Eyre is Australia’s largest
lake, some 9500 square kilometres when filled. The north arm
alone is larger than Belgium. The filling of the lake and theresultant explosion of insect, fish, animal and especially bird life isa tremendous occurrence in Nature. A selection of Landsat imagesof this event are available on the Internet atwww.lakeeyreyc.com/Status/latest.html

Boats have actually sailed on Lake Eyre, and a club exists called
The Lake Eyre Yacht Club.
www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/25/2501193.htm

I had determined to collect suitable NOAA images in an endeavour
to show the lake and describe how it filled. This laudable exercise
was delayed by work on an HRPT project, but has been re-ignited
by Les’ article in GEO Quarterly 23.
For the greater period of time the ‘Lake’ is a smooth white plane ofsalt extending as far as the eye can see. So smooth, it was
selected for Donald Campbell’s attempt on the land speed record
with the famous Bluebird on July 17, 1964.
www.dhub.org/object/208607,donald

Extraordinary rains in the north of Northern Territory andQueensland during summer 2008-09 resulted in floods in thoseareas, with the filling or creation of a series of lakes in the Northern
Territory. Some lakes are named, and a good map will show atleast Lake Woods, Anthony Lagoon and Lake Sylvester. While
great quantities of water fell over northern Queensland and foundtheir way to Lake Eyre, NOAA APT images do not show up any
lakes there.
The enormous quantity of water further results in the filling of what
are depressions or low-lying ground, sometimes referred to as‘downes’ on maps. For most of the time these are dry and do notappear on satellite images: however, when filled, they do show up.
A close examination of the images reveal a ‘stain’—a light yellow
colour that gradually extends from the newly filled lakes in a southsouth-east direction across the Simpson Desert, over various
downes and small lakes. This extraordinary water movement
continues until named or recognised rivers commence filling andrunning. The Diamentina, Warburton, Georgina rivers and Cooper
Creek are all well known.

Figure 1 -NOAA-18 captured this image on August 13, 2007,
well before the floods commenced.

around them. Figure 4 is one of my earliest NOAA-19 images, fromMay 20, 2009, and shows the lakes, stain and the north and southarms of Lake Eyre. Lines of latitude and longitude have been
included for locating places when working with a map.

With water movement over a number of months, the North andSouth arms of Lake Eyre gradually fill. Underground life stirs, fish
appear and birds flock in. The miraculous event occurs! The
amount of water and life, the size of the event is hard for the mind
to grasp. The paradox is that while these great floods occurred ‘up’in the north, ‘down’ in the south, we experience drought andbushfires!
Figure 1 comes from a NOAA-18 pass on August 13, 2007, well
well before the flooding event. It shows no lakes in the area ofinterest. Figure 2, an image from a NOAA-18 pass on August 7,
2009 shows the lakes and ‘stain’ caused by the advancing
floodwaters. It also shows Lake Eyre, partly clouded over. Figure 3
comes from a NOAA-18 pass during February 2009, well into theflooding episode. It clearly shows lakes forming in Northern
Territory, and a close examination shows the ‘stain’ appearing

20

Finally, the map above shows Australia relative to Europe to help inappreciating the distances the waters travel.
My APT images were obtained with a tall narrow QFH antenna, aTimestep Proscan receiver and WxtoImg software.

www.geo-web.org.uk

December 2009

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 24

Figure 2 - This NOAA-18 image dating from August 7, 2009 shows Lake Eyre as its waters recede

Figure 3 - Floodwaters on the move: NOAA-18 on February 28, 2009

Figure 4 - Floodwaters filling Lake Eyre: NOAA-19 on May 20, 2009www.geo-web.org.uk

21

GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

December 2009

A NASA Earth Observatory Report

A fortuitous orbit of the International Space Station revealed thisstriking view of Sarychev Volcano (Kuril Islands, northeast ofJapan) in an early stage of eruption on June 12, 2009. Sarychev isone of the most active volcanoes in the Kurils and is located on thenorthwestern end of Matua Island. Ash from the multi-day eruption
has been detected 2 400 kilometers of the volcano requiring
commercial airline flights to be diverted away from the region tominimise the danger of engine failures from ash intake.
This detailed astronaut photograph is exciting to vulcanologists
because it captures several phenomena that occur during theearliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption. The main column
is one of a series of plumes that rose above Matua Island andappears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam. The
vigorously rising plume gives the steam a bubble-like appearance.

22

In contrast, the smooth white cloud on top may be water
condensation resulting from rapid rising and cooling of the air mass
above the ash column. This cloud, which meteorologists call apileus cloud, is probably a transient feature. The structure also
indicates that little to no shearing wind was present at the time todisrupt the plume. By contrast, a cloud of denser, gray ash,probably a pyroclastic flow, appears to be hugging the ground,descending from the volcano summit. The rising eruption plumecasts a shadow to the northwest of the island (image top). Brown
ash at a lower altitude of the atmosphere spreads out above theground at image lower left. Low-level stratus clouds approach
Matua Island from the east, wrapping around the lower slopes ofthe volcano. Only about 1.5 kilometers of the coastline of Matua
Island (image lower centre) are visible beneath the clouds and ash.

www.geo-web.org.uk

NASA Astronaut photograph ISS020-E-9048

December 2009

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 24

ESA - Observing the EarthThis image from Japan’s Advanced Land
Observing Satellite (ALOS) shows theextraordinary landscape of the Tanezrouft
Basin, in south-central Algeria. The region
is known as ‘Land of Terror’ because of its
lack of water and vegetation.

sandstone hills, steep canyon walls, whitesalt flats, stone plateaux, sandstone outcrop
patterns of concentric loops and sprawlingseas of multi-storey sand dunes known asergs. The yellow cluster of dunes at upper
right is known as Erg Mehedjibat.

Most of the Sahara is covered by barestone and pebbles rather than sand and,with little vegetation present, the landscapeis modified by strong, nearly constant winderosion. This basin is characterised by dark

The Algerian Sahara makes up more than
90% of the country’s total area. Major oiland natural gas deposits lie beneath the
Sahara’s surface, contributing to Algeria’s
position as one of the wealthiest African

www.geo-web.org.uk

nations. As large as the whole of Western
Europe, Algeria is the second-largest
country in Africa, after the Sudan.
ALOS captured this image on June 24,2009 with its Advanced Visible and Near
Infrared Radiometer type-2 (AVNIR-2)
instrument, designed to chart land coverand vegetation in visible and near infrared
spectral bands with a resolution of 10
metres.
Image: JAXA, ESA

23

GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

December 2009

Figure 2 - Greenland, imaged by Robert Moore

Figure 3 - Greenland, the same image after use of Photoshop

Image © EUMETSAT 2009

Image © EUMETCSAT 2009

Figure 5 - The Ilulissat Icefjord and Icesheet Meltpools (August 11,2008)

Figure 6 - The Ilulissat Icefjord and Icesheet Meltpools (August 9, 2009)

Terra Image: MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA/GSFC

Terra Image: MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA/GSFC

24

www.geo-web.org.uk

December 2009

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 24

Robert Moore and Alan BanksOn August 8, 2009, NOAA-17 provided an unusually fineimage when a 1017 mb high pressure area centred overGreenland held back the usual cloud cover. It is evident thatthe ice and snow had receded from the edges of the land
and that glaciers and rivers are very easy to spot. Notable
among the glaciers, shown even more clearly in the
Channel-04 image opposite, is the Petermann Glacier. This,
the most northerly glacier in the world, is currently being
studied by Greenpeace as part of their programmemonitoring oceanic warming.
http://www.meltfactor.org/blog/?tag=petermann-glacier

The Petermann Glacier is located off the extreme northwest
coast of Greenland, as highlighted in figure 2.
Corresponding colour composite images appear overleaf.
Snow and ice obviously result in a somewhat dazzling image(figure 3) but reducing the brightness in PhotoShop brought
out a number of surface features (figure 4).
A striking feature of Greenland images that day were thevery obvious melt pools along the western edge of the ice
cap which seemed more extensive than those of the year
before. Melt pools are of interest as they are pools of melted
ice and snow that form on the ice sheet when it is warmedin spring and summer. The pools are darker than ice andsnow and absorb more solar radiation than the surrounding
ice and snow—a factor which further accelerates the melting
process.
It was reported in 2002 by Zwally and colleagues that
increases in ice velocity during the summer are correlatedwith the timing and the intensity of ice sheet surface
melting. Using periodic global positioning satellite
measurements from 1996 through 1999, the researchers
discovered that the ice flow speeds up from 31.3 cm per day
in winter to a peak of 40 cm per day in the summer whensurface melting is greatest. The report concluded that
surface meltwater travels quickly through the 1200 metre
thick ice to the bedrock where it makes the ice slide faster.
This process was known for decades to enhance the flow ofsmall mountain glaciers, but was not previously known tooccur in large ice sheets.

Figure 1 - The Channel-04 image enhances detail of Greenland
Image © EUMETSAT 2009

and come from two passes of the Terra satellite that coveredmuch the same area but a year apart: August 11, 2008 andAugust 9, 2009. It was immediately apparent that the extent
of melt pools was very similar in each image but that theIlulissat Icefjord was much more broken up this year
compared with 2008. The Glacier and Icefjord—which arelocated on the mainland of Greenland, east of the prominent
Disko island— is at the top left of both images.
NOAA-17 is now a relatively ancient satellite and its
performance can be erratic, but on this pass it provided an
unusual, spectacular and very interesting view of a part of
the world which, whilst seldom seen, is plainly of great
importance to our understanding of the changes that are
taking place in the climate of the northern hemisphere: and,indeed, of the whole planet.

Meltwaters make their way from the surface to the bedrockby draining into crevasses and large tunnels called moulins,
the latter often as wide as ten meters in diameter. Moremeltwater underneath the ice sheet provides lubrication toallow the ice sheet to move faster toward the coastline ofGreenland. Over time, as ice melts from the top of the ice
sheet, the ice thins and spreads out toward lower elevations
closer to the coast.
The meltwater also carries heat from the top of the ice to thebase of the ice that sits on the bedrock. More recent studies
now show that this is a relatively minor contributor to theretreat of glaciers in Greenland. The enhanced calving ofglaciers where they terminate at the ocean has a muchgreater effect and this seems to be exemplified in the MODIS
images of Ilulissat Icefjord.
These images (figures 5,6) have been obtained from the
MODIS Rapid Response archive at
Figure 2 - Locating the Petermann Glacier

http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery
www.geo-web.org.uk

25

GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

December 2009

Peter Wakelin
The US Air Force launched a weather
satellite from Vandenberg, California at1612 UTC on October 18. It was the
18th in the Defense Meteorological
Satellite Program (DMSP) which evolved
from a programme that began in 1962.
The early craft, known as Program 35
weather satellites, were primarily usedby the US National Reconnaissance
Office to scout cloud-free regions forspy satellites but the programme wastransferred to the Air Force when it
was found to be invaluable insupporting war operations in Vietnam.
DMSP-F18 was the first DMSP to belaunched on the Atlas V 401 rocketwith a Centaur upper stage, acombination which is vastly more
powerful than is necessary to put thissatellite in to an 850 km sunsynchronous orbit. This excess power
was put to good use after the satellite
was released by propelling it into a
hyperbolic orbit (relative to Earth) andan elliptical orbit about the Sun so
there is no danger of a collision in
Earth orbit creating a debris hazard in
the future.
Being a classified launch, only alimited amount of information was
released but amateur satellite
enthusiasts were able to derive
accurate orbital elements prior tolaunch and watchers in Africa andEurope saw the rocket and payload,and heard radio transmissions fromboth the DMSP and the Centaur on thefirst orbit. The 320-second burn totake the Centaur out of Earth orbit
started on the second orbit whennorthbound over north Africa andventing of remaining propellant
occurred several minutes later at1914 UTC high above Europe. Britain
was clouded out but the expanding
cloud of propellant, illuminated by thesun, was widely observed from further
east.
However, it was some 30 minutes
earlier, whilst crossing South Africa,that some very strange sightings
were widely reported. The media andpolice were inundated with reportsof strange happenings in the sky.
Greg Roberts, now living near
Capetown, is a satellite observer of fifty
years' experience and reported: “I’ve
just seen the most spectacular space
event ever! I had my camera set on apredicted position for DMSP-F18 and,shortly before the expected time, I

26

started seeing a series of rings that got
progressively brighter—and then therocket came into view looking like abrilliant, conical light with DMSP-F18
to the side of it...”Despite having a field of view of only
two degrees, Greg managed to get agood series of images as it quickly
crossed the sky. Being a warm, springevening this event was widely observed
and it even had professional
astronomers baffled. What was notmade public before the launch wasthat some of the excess propellant
would be used conduct a series of tests
relating to liquid-fuel management
during zero-G coast phases. What wasobserved was intermittent activation ofthrusters in a ‘pulsed chilldown
demonstration’. Greg described themas ‘puffs’ which expanded outwards
from the rocket in concentric rings.
Another observer reported as many as
nine or ten rings visible at one stage.
Greg's three images were of about 2.5 s
exposure time with the camera systemsteady so stars show as very short
trails compared with those of the fastmoving rocket and satellite. In
Figure 1, one pulse has just ended andthe cloud is expanding away from therocket. The ring generated by theprevious pulse is visible. DMSP-F18 is
nearby. Figure 2 was exposed between
pulses; the two previous ones are stillvisible. Another pulse occurred about
three seconds after this image wastaken. A pulse is in progress at thetime of Figure 3’s exposure.
Mitchell Krog is responsible for
Figure 4. With little interest in
satellites, he was busy pursuing his
astronomical interests when he spotted
this strange object moving across thesky and swiftly turned his camera
towards it. The wider field of view andshorter focal length compared with
Greg’s system resulted in quite
different images. This one was takenwith the rocket crossing the star-rich
Sagittarius region of the Milky Way.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Ted Molczan foranalysing available launch informationand making two-line elements available
prior to the launch; Jonathan
McDowell for the historical informationon the DMSP programme; Greg
Roberts for Figures 1,2 and 3 andfinally, Mitchell Krog and Living
Canvas Photography for Figure 4.

www.geo-web.org.uk

Figure 4

December 2009

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 24

A EurasiaNet Photo Story by Joanna Lillis - Photos by David Trilling
The rusting portholes of the Lev Berg, oncea proud vessel in the Aral fishing fleet,stare out across the garbage-strewn
expanse of the dry Aral Sea bed. The
rotting, graffiti-covered hulk of this ship,
resting in what used to be the harbour ofAral (formerly Aralsk), is a testament to theenvironmental devastation that ill-conceived
irrigation policies inflicted on the region. But
amid such evidence of despair, fragile
signs of hope are starting to appear.

to 2004. Overall, the sea level has dropped
by 20 metres, and in the late 1980s theAral split into two parts.

A camel herder heads toa well for water

The Lev Berg sits rusting in thedry harbor of the town of Aral

Today, the shrinking sea is a source of
health risks. But not so long ago it was afont of bounty. Locals talk wistfully of thetime when the sea was associated withprosperity. ‘It was like a fairy tale’, Arman, a
middle-aged resident, recalled toEurasiaNet. ‘Everything was different. The
air was different; the climate was different;
there were more people here. Now what’schanged? Everyone’s left, gone to live
elsewhere. The weather’s changed—dust
and wind and that’s it.’Kazakhstan’s former fishing village ofBogen once enjoyed near mythologicalstatus in the Soviet Union, its fishermen
lionised during World War II for supplying
truckloads of their catch to soldiers fighting
on the eastern front. Bogen is now wellinland, and camels roam what was oncethe seabed. On a late March afternoon it
was engulfed in one of the dust storms thathave become more common since the Aral
started drying. These storms kick up cloudof salt, dust and toxic substances acrossinhabited areas. ‘This is how we live here’,said an elderly resident who worked in thelocal fish factory before it closed down, as
he stood in line to pump water from thevillage well. ‘You see how it all goes up
when the wind blows.’

increased the flow into the NAS and arealso rehabilitating surrounding wetlands.
The project cost Kazakhstan’s government$86 million, of which $64.5 million camefrom a World Bank loan. Today, the NAS’s
surface area is 50% larger than it was at its
lowest point. ‘The facility is working in linewith the design—preserving the NAS at thelevel of 42 meters’, Serikbay Smailov, chief
consultant and coordinator at theAgriculture Ministry’s Water Resources
Committee in the regional centre of
Kyzylorda, told EurasiaNet.
The shrinking of the Aral led to increased
saline levels, killing the fish in the sea.
Now, however, saline levels have halved
and fish are being re-introduce in the hopesof reviving the fishing industry. Catches
have risen from 52 tons in 2004 to 1,490
tons in 2008. ‘Last year there were a lot offish’, said Tolyk, a fisherman from Bogen
who is looking forward to fishing in the Aral
Sea again when the fishing season starts
shortly. In the town of Aral, where a new
fish processing plant with an annual
capacity of 6,000 tons has opened, traders
are happy to cash in on increased catches.
‘Fishermen brought a lot of fish last year. I
hope they’ll bring more this year’, said
Sagyda, who runs a fish stall in the market.

The spillway below the 13-kilometer dike at thesouthern edge of the Northern Aral Sea

A dust storm in Bogen
Much of the former seabed is now thickly
encrusted with salt

The namesake of the rusting vessel in theerstwhile harbour, Lev Berg, was a Soviet
geographer famed for his studies of Central
Asian lakes. He would be turning in his
grave if he saw the current state of the Aral
Sea, now shared between Kazakhstan andUzbekistan: what was in 1960 the world’s
fourth largest lake is now a shadow of its
former self. Starved of water as the Syr
Darya and Amu Darya rivers were diverted
to feed thirsty crops such as cotton andrice, the sea contracted by 70% from 1960

Although conditions in the vicinity of thesea are currently grim, there is a whiff ofhope in the air: a 13-kilometre dike openedin 2005 is leading to a recovery of theNorthern Aral Sea (NAS) in Kazakhstan.
Fired up by this success, officials areworking to launch the project’s second
phase, intended to further expand the NAS.
Optimists say that within a few years thesea could again be lapping at the shores of
the town of Aral, bringing environmental
recovery and new economic opportunities.
This dike was combined with new hydrofacilities along the Syr Darya which havewww.geo-web.org.uk

A feasibility study has been completed forthe second stage of the project, which
would take five to six years to implement. It
is now being examined by government
agencies and the World Bank. ‘This study
makes proposals to improve the water
management of the Kazakhstani part of the
Syr Darya’, World Bank task team leader
Joop Stoutjesdijk told EurasiaNet. The
proposed measures include building a diketo separate Saryshyganak Bay (sometimes
called Saryshaganak)—on which the townof Aral stands—from the NAS, boosting its
recovery, and improving structures along
the Syr Darya to expand the flow of water.
Smailov says implementation of the second
phase should bring the sea back to thetown of Aral, which now stands 35

27

GEO Quarterly No 24

kilometers from the shore. It will involve
constructing a canal from the Syr Darya
into the Saryshyganak Bay, which is at ahigher elevation than the existing NAS. The
new dike will maintain the water there, andanother canal will channel it to the town ofAral. If plans for the second phase areapproved, the World Bank expects agovernment request for funding around Julyand could make a loan available within ayear, Stoutjesdijk said.
Amid the optimism in Kazakhstan, it is easy
to forget that the NAS recovery doesnothing to help the larger, still shrinking
Southern Aral Sea, which is receiving little
water from the Amu Darya. ‘In the late
1990s-early 2000s, the arguments made insupport of damming the Small or Northern
Aral were to preserve that part andabandon the largest portion of the Aral
(Southern) to its fate of disappearance’,
Amanda Wooden, Assistant Professor ofEnvironmental Studies at Bucknell
University, told EurasiaNet. ‘A larger
population surrounds the Southern Aral
than the Northern Aral, thus any
acceleration of negative impacts from thedamming of the Northern Aral—for
example, more rapid desiccation of thesouthern part and its ramifications forecosystem and human health—raises
distributive justice questions. If thesouthern lake declined more rapidly, there
would be additional impacts in an alreadysevere situation for the population in thedisaster zone.’A billboard in Aral announces, ‘Good news, themother sea is coming!’

The subject is likely to cause hot debates
at a meeting of the International Fund for
Saving the Aral Sea in Almaty, scheduled toopen on April 28, to be attended by headsof Central Asian states. For people living
around the Northern Aral Sea, the prospectof its return is exciting, and the slogan on aposter hanging over a street in the town ofAral sums up the optimistic mood. ‘Good
news’, it says, ‘the mother sea is coming.’

CreditThis article originally appeared on
EurasiaNet
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/
insight/articles/eav042409.shtml

on April 24, 2009. Copyright (c) 2009 OpenSociety Institute, 400 West 59th Street, New
York, NY 10019 USA (wwwEurasiaNet.org)

28

Group for Earth Observation

December 2009

Ken Morgan and Mike Willmott

If you have been receiving and examining APT images for some time, then yourcomputer screen must occasionally display an image that really puzzles you. This
happened for me on January 4 last year with the 10.08 am AEST NOAA-17 image
displayed opposite.
I wondered what combination of temperature, pressure or wind movement could
possibly have produced such a corkscrew effect in the cloud formation driven
eastward over the Coral Sea from the east coast of Queensland.
Eventually, I approached Mike Willmott, a friendly meteorologist at the Melbourne
Bureau of Meteorology and emailed the image to him. Here is his explanation.
‘The cloud formation that you have provided in your beautiful imagery (figure 1)
was caused by a cold frontal band interacting with a trough from the tropics.
‘As you may be aware, there are many waves within the atmosphere, at manydifferent scales. At the time your image was taken, there was a long wave troughover the Pacific Ocean and another over the coast of Western Australia. This
positioned a long wave ridge over the eastern states. This means that a highpressure centre was fairly dominant over the Tasman Sea and was providing astrong boundary between the air from the tropics and the air from the Sub
Tropics.
‘This boundary of the converging air masses produces a significant trough in an
east-west direction—the alignment of the cloud band. Since, at lower
wavelengths, a front was moving out of the long wave trough off Queensland at
the time of the image, the tail of the front (remembering that a front is theboundary between two air masses) provided enough energy to assist the uplift ofmoist air into the upper atmosphere to create the cloud band.
‘The circulations at the various levels within this cloud band are indications ofvorticity at each level. If you had observed the previous or subsequent orbits you
would have seen that there was also some input of moisture from the tropics
caused by a tropical disturbance from the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).
The ITCZ is the boundary between air from the northern hemisphere and air fromthe southern hemisphere. This disturbance was also lying along the same troughline and was also able to feed moisture into the system. The system persisted fora few days because it was caused by long wave systems rather than the shorter
wavelength systems which will move around the long waves.’
Mike concluded with the suggestion that the IR channel would provide an idea ofthe temperature of each level of the system. This would indicate at what level in
the atmosphere the vorticity centres were occurring and also give and indication of
the type of cloud that was present. Following this suggestion, and choosing MCIR
from WXtoImg’s ‘Enhancement’ menu, I reprocessed the audio file to create
figure 2, which clearly shows a semi circular cloud formation over Queensland andnorthern New South Wales.
Equipment
Homemade tall narrow QFH antenna, Timestep Proscan receiver, WXtoImg
software.
Location
Brighton, Melbourne, Australia (37.9°S, 145°E).
Acknowledgement
Mike Willmott is a senior meteorologist, Applications Sub-Section, Space Based
Observations Section, Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia.
Audio File
Interested readers can download the audio (WAV) file fromhttp://mdrc.org.au/VK3CEK/download/01032308.wav

and replicate these results in WXtoImg. You will, of course, have to alter thestation location to latitude: -38°; longitude 145°; altitude: 23 metres.

www.geo-web.org.uk

December 2009

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 24

Figure 1 - The channel 2+4 colour composite

Figure 2 - The same image with WXtoImg’s ‘MCIR’ enhancement applied

www.geo-web.org.uk

29

GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

December 2009

John Tellick

We are of course all used to seeing
meteorological satellite images from bothgeostationary and polar satellites. But which
is better? I suspect some would say polar
orbiters every time given their detail andlack parallax distortion. Actually, I believe
that, from a meteorologists point of view,
they compliment one another .
Geostationary satellites are brilliant atcovering large areas—even entire oceans—
24 hours a day, allowing you monitor andtrack weather systems. In the case ofMeteosat-9, images are produced every 15
minutes in twelve spectral channels. Theirmain drawback is that they are unable to‘see’ the polar regions which are very
important for ‘global weather.’30

Polar orbiting satellites, only a few hundred
kilometres above the Earth, give a far moredetailed ‘picture’, although their swath width
limits the area covered. And since the Earthrotates under their orbits, time-wisecoverage as with geostationary imaging is
not possible.
Yet it seems to me that they have two big
advantages: firstly they cross the poles on
every orbit, scanning these regions
frequently; additionally, they have the ability
to ‘sound’ the atmosphere, extracting usefuldata which, in the current new-generation
European Metop satellite is achieved
across a vast spectrum of channels.
The visible light image on this page shows
hurricane Rick, and was acquired fromwww.geo-web.org.uk

Metop A's global AVHRR data stream on
October 17, 2009. On the back cover isanother image of Rick as seen fromNOAA’s GOES-W one day later.
Hurricane Rick tracked along the SW coastof Mexico and at one stage became amaximum Category-5 hurricane with winds
speeds in excess of 250 km/h (155 mph).
Rick fortunately lost intensity before making
landfall to the south of Mazatlan in Mexicoand then tracking northeast into the States.
Both images were received via
EUMETCast-Europe using David Taylor's
MSG Data Manager and Metop Manager
and processed with his GSS-7 and HRPT
Reader software.
Images © EUMETSAT 2009

December 2009

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 24

Anders Höök
For me, APT still is the main part of the hobby but I alsofind experimenting with antennas interesting. So far I havenot dared to plunge into the computer work that seems to
be connected with EUMETCast. However, now and then I
look at what is to be found in the Modis Rapid Response
System and also the NOAA CLASS archive.

Figure 1 - This NOAA-19 pass on October 19, 2009 was decoded andprocessed with Patrik Tast’s APT Decoder software and shows
the Aral Sea and part of the Caspian Sea

the main inflows running into the southern part of the lake.
A small area of water surface can also be seen in thesouthern part of the lake.

The Aral Sea is of special interest for me, not least after thearticle in GEO Q16 (December 2007), but also before that.
My own interest is because I quite often see the saddevelopments on my own images; and it is sad to see how
the eastern basin of the south Aral Sea now seems to havedried out completely. Figure 1 is a reasonably good image of
the Aral Sea I obtained recently.

Even if it is not exactly the same story for Lake Chad as for
the Aral Sea, there are similarities. Lake Chad has shrunk
tremendously during the past 30 years. According toWikipedia, it was the fourth largest lake in Africa in 1960,
with an area of more than 26 000 km2. Now it’s area is lessthan 1 500 km2 with an average depth of only 1.5 metres.
This seems to be due to both decreased rainfall and the factthat large amounts of irrigation water are diverted fromboth the lake and the rivers feeding it.

While searching on the web, I happened to stumble upon asite: ‘Lake Chad: almost gone’.
http://www.grida.no/publications/vg/water2/page/3262.aspx

More material is to be found in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chad

As with the Aral Sea, a plan has been proposed to divert
water from other rivers into Lake Chad. The Lake ChadBasin Commission proposes diversion of water from the big
Ubangi River, a tributary to the Congo River which forms
part of the boundary between the Central African Republic
and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Lake Chad is far outside the reach of my APT system, so I
have turned to MODIS, where I picked the image shown infigure 2. The river Komadougou Yobe is easy to see, runningtowards the northern part of the lake. It is more difficult to
see the Chari River and its tributary Logone River which are

Figure 2 - This MODIS image from NASA’s Terra satellite dates from October 18, 2009 and shows the terrain surrounding Lake Chad
Image: MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA/GSFC-

Processing: SmoothMODIS and CorrectGeometry software

www.geo-web.org.uk

31

GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

December 2009

A report and photo diary from David Taylor
The conference was held in the world-famous
Assembly Rooms, not a location you might
associate with a high-tech satellite users’
meeting! But apart from an initial soundproblem, the venue proved excellent both froma scientific and a social standpoint (below).

After the drinks there
was a chance tosocialise in the
fascinating
atmosphere of the
Roman Baths.
Fortunately, it wasn’training (we were aweather conference
after all!) and I heard
no reports of anyone
falling into the water.

The opening day’s Icebreaker Cocktail washeld at the Roman Baths, in the renowned
Pump Room.

A most useful presence at the conference was
the EUMETSAT Help Desk, where Pamela
and IT Consultant Olaf were on hand todemonstrate the User Registration and
Product Navigator services.

This is a view of the ‘Tea Room’, the smaller of
the two rooms being used for sessions. There
was a mixture of common sessions in thelarge hall (the ‘Ballroom’) and parallel sessions
in both rooms. Try not to get too distracted by
the architecture and decoration!

They answered my queries, and I was
delighted to see how suggestions from users
had been used to improve the Product
Navigator.
And yes, EUMETSAT user services made sureof their copy of the GEO Quarterly. While there
wasn’t enough room for a GEO stand to allow
demonstrations of live reception, there was agood stock of GEO flyers and some sample
GEO Quarterlies for the delegates.
Another contrast—an Astrium satellite modelin the famous Pump Room proved an object
worth photographing!

EUMETSAT Director General Dr Lars Prahm
addresses delegates at the Icebreaker
Cocktail.

32

Wireless Internet was laid on to allow visitors
to use their own portables to keep up withemail. And for those who didn’t have a laptop,
a small number of PCs were provided. I hopethe view over coffee in the Octagon wasn’t too
distracting!
Coffee breaks in the Octagon were a very
busy and crowded time, as you could not only
enjoy the excellent beverages and snacks, butmake sure you saw all the posters as well.
Often, the poster authors were on hand toanswer questions, and I had interesting
conversations about the next generation ofpolar orbiting satellites and the extension ofcommunication facilities at McMurdo base in
Antarctica—which will halve the delay ingetting polar orbiting data to the users.

www.geo-web.org.uk

The conference dinner was held at Longleat
House, with drinks in the gardens beforehand.

December 2009

Group for Earth Observation

Report on Proceedings
We had flown to nearby Bristol and spent a daysightseeing there on the Saturday prior to the conference,
including a visit to the impressive SS Great Britain—
Brunel's steam-powered trans-Atlantic ship. After more
sightseeing on Sunday in Bath, my first visit there, it wastime to attend the Welcome Drink at the Assembly Rooms
to meet up with many old friends and make some newacquaintances. The main theme of this year's conference
was climate change, and of course, there were the usual
regular topics as well.
Future Satellites and Applications
My impression from the first session, ‘Future Satellites andApplications’, was that things are ticking along nicely andwere largely a continuation of what I reported last year. In
Europe, plans for the next generation of geostationary
satellites include extending the sensing by the use ofcomplementary satellites, one for imaging and another forsounding. These will be 3D-stabilised rather than spinners
like the present Meteosat first- and second-generation
birds: hence they will pose some new challenges for theoperators. The first ITTs (Invitations to tender, requests toindustry for proposals with real costs) should be sent out
around mid-2009. The Metop-A HRPT direct transmission
service has been extended to try and maximise thecoverage whilst minimising the risk of radiation damage tothose components which are particularly susceptible.
Coffee and tea breaks were held in another of thefamous rooms—the Octagon. This was also thelocation for the posters which you could browse atleisure, and perhaps ask questions directly to theposters’ authors. There were so many posters, in fact,that two sessions were displayed, with a mid-weekchangeover. Overlooking the Octagon was the small PC
area, where delegates could check back on their e-mailat home, or perhaps make last minute updates to theirpresentations!
The US is preparing future geostationary and polar
orbiting satellites, although I gather that the imager forthe new geostationary satellites has been rather delayed.
The US has a future NPOESS program, and as this is stillsome years away, there is also NPP - NPOESS Preparatory
Program. Korea is planning launch one of its COMS(Communications, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite)
before the end of 2009, and should provide HRIT/LRIT
from 128°E. Canada is considering coverage from a pair ofsatellites in a highly elliptical 12-hour orbit (something
like Molniya orbits) to try and achieve near continuous
coverage of the northern regions.
The Icebreaker Reception at the Roman Baths
The Icebreaker Reception is a regular feature of the
EUMETSAT conferences and provides the chance to meetup over a drink or two in pleasant surroundings. This year
it was held in the Roman Baths (which gave the town its
name) and, following drinks and canapés in the Pump
Room (where one would normally take a highly refinedtea!), we had the chance to tour the remains of the Roman
Baths, which are remarkably well preserved (or restored)
in places. You might even catch a glimpse of someRomans if you wait long enough…
During this event I was introduced to Jarno Schipper who
invited those interested within GEO to attend some online
discussions, held every few weeks, about interpreting
weather satellite data and combining it with other sources
and forecasts.
Do visit their Web site at
http://www.satreponline.org/

and look for the Weather Briefings page.

GEO Quarterly No 24

On the Today's Images page you will find a set of data
combining multiple satellite channels and NWP (Numerical
Weather Prediction) data. Do take a look. I joined in one
session recently and found it most enlightening to see howsome of the more unusual (to me) products could be used
to assist image interpretation.
Calibration and Validation
One topic, which came up again and again, wascalibration of the data from satellites and validation
against ground measurements. For example, although thesatellites can measure radiation in a certain band, andhence the equivalent black body temperature can becomputed, this gives a surface measurement: the actual
air temperature can be up to 20° Celsius different!
As algorithms are refined and the problems better
understood, old data may need to be re-processed toprovide measurements more comparable with today's
ideas, and hence provide the longer-term data required toassess climate change. Access to that old, raw data may
not be so easy. Inter-satellite calibration between
geostationary satellites from different agencies, andbetween geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites, is also
an important issue. This issue is sufficiently importantthat the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) have aproject devoted to this
http://gsics.wmo.int/

and Tuesday afternoon was devoted to presentations
relating to the GSICS (Global Space-based InterCalibration System).
On Wednesday evening, most delegates chose to attend
the conference dinner—held in the grounds of Longleat
house. Door-to-door coaches were provided and thefood was specially chosen to be typical of the region.
There was Pimms as an aperitif and the wines, whichwere English, were surprisingly good. Who knows: withclimate warming we may see more of a shift towards
serious wine growing in England.
Personally, I was somewhat surprised by the discrepancies
in ground measurements reported compared to the values
derived from satellites. It does bring into question theaccuracy of the data which goes into the climate change
models, particularly where data from completely different
satellites is combined over long time periods. At least
people are now aware of these discrepancies and areworking together to resolve them.
There were parallel sessions on Nowcasting, AtmosphericComposition, Hyperspectral Sounding, and Numerical
Weather Prediction, which I did not attend.
Outside the Lecture Halls
The promised live demonstration by the UK Met Office did
not materialise, which left rather a gap. There would havebeen room for the stand which GEO had offered in the‘Card Room’, which had access to a private, south-facing
courtyard just outside. Still, there were ample GEO flyers
for the delegates and sample GEO Quarterlies that they
could browse.
One most useful feature of this year's conference was the
EUMETSAT User Help Desk, staffed by Pamela and the IT
contractor Olaf (who is responsible for quite a lot of the
Web site design). It was an ideal opportunity to give yourinput as a user of either the new electronic registration
service or the product navigator.
The next EUMETSAT Meteorological Satellite Conference
will take place from September 20-24, 2010, and will beheld at Cordoba in Spain. See you there?

www.geo-web.org.uk

33

GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

December 2009

Douglas Deans - dsdeans@tiscali.co.uk
By now readers will be aware thatcircumstances regarding the release of
Windows 7 changed between thepenning of my last column and its
publication. Despite the idiotic rules of
the European Commission there was achange of direction by Microsoft,
lumbered with the European
competition nonsense. Windows 7 wasreleased in Europe without the special
7E edition which would only work as aclean install, as explained in my lastcolumn. The European release is now
the same as all others; it contains a
choice of browser, including, of course,
IE 8 and so now is also available in an
update option. Common sense has
prevailed.
Now that the pre-launch excitement of
Windows 7 has passed and thesoftware, by the time you read this,launched and available to all, I intend,
as promised in my last column, toreturn to looking at computer issues
more related to our hobby. I should
just say that, by the time this is
published, I expect to have been using
Windows 7 myself and hopefully having
the same positive experience reported
by many of the beta-testers. I willcertainly return to this topic insubsequent columns as Operating
Systems, whether we like it or not, aremuch needed for our hobby. The
chance to buy a new, and wellreported, Operating System for £44,
was just too tempting. As both 32-bit
and 64-bit discs are provided I
currently face a dilemma as to which I
will install. It will be the Quarterly after
this before I can report what I finallydecided.
As regards my request for help andinformation from members in my lastcolumn, I have to report that so far
there has not been a single reply. It is
tempting to conclude that none of the
500 members read the column:
however I will soldier on regardless.
This quarter I intend to re-visit thedebate of whether to use one or two
computers for EUMETCast systems. I
have tried both and as always theoutcome is never as clear cut as you
might think. Hopefully I can provide a
few pointers that may be helpful.

34

Computers for EUMETCast
The old discussion as to whether to use
one or two computers for a
EUMETCast system has been about forsome time and the continual additionof new data only adds to theimportance of the question. As I haveused both, I offer some thoughts andexperiences that may help decide what
would best suit you. Although a
two-computer system is recommended
by EUMETSAT, the decision is perhaps
not as clear cut as you might think,particularly with the powerful homecomputers now available.
The first thing you must consider isjust what data you are proposing to
take. There are gigabytes available
every hour but considerable amountsof this are probably only of interest to
meteorological professionals or the real
amateur enthusiast. I suspect that the
majority will be looking for the image
products but even here decisions areimportant as the global 5-channel
HRPT data from Metop has large files ofover 28 MB. In addition, a few lost
segments may be annoying to one
person but of little concern to another.
If you are coming into the hobby forthe first time and already have a good
specification computer then my advice
would be to give it a try and see how it
performs for your particular set up andchoice of data. The real issue of using
only one computer comes down to theother uses you make of it. If, like me,
you are a bit of an enthusiast then you
may have five other programs runningjust dealing with EUMETCast dataprocessing alone. Add to this maildownloading, visits to the Internet,
preparing GEO columns in Microsoft
Word (more people should do this), andthe usual mishmash of security
programs, and quickly you can see howbusy the computer can be. It is easy tothink that modern computers are
excellent at multi-tasking—and they
are—but it only takes a small interrupt
or delay to cause loss of data, evenwhen using a RAM Disk. In otherwords, whilst the reception processitself can be run on a very minimal
computer, a powerful computer alone
may not allow lots of additional tasks
without some data loss. However,www.geo-web.org.uk

everyone’s computer system andprogram mix is different so there are
too many variables to be specific about
this. Best to just try it and see how it
works.
A two-computer system usuallyresolves those issues by leaving the‘receive’ computer to concentrate solely
on the EUMETCast system. As I said
before, an inexpensive lower
specification computer can be ideal forthis task. The important thing here isnot so much the computer specification
but the fact that it is only performing
the EUMETCast receive task.
Against that you have to consider theneed for networking and the cost of
running two computers …. notinconsiderable with today’s fuelcharges, even with a lower specification‘receive’ computer.
What sort of electrical costs can we
expect running our computer systems?
You might well be surprised! I know I
was. Some time ago I did some tests on
my two computer set up, and again
just recently did some checks on mysingle computer system. Ironically, justas we retire and find the time to reallyenjoy our hobby, we may also
experience a drop in our income andhave to be a bit more careful with fuelusage particularly with current levels oftariffs.
My single computer checks werecarried out using a kWh meter on mysystem, comprising an AMD 64-bit
dual-core 6400 processor with an
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT graphics cardand the usual accessories. My monitor,a 22 inch LCD with an automatic
switch-off after 5 minutes, spends
about 70% of its time off. Also
connected in the circuit was the
DVBWorld DVB box and my router. My
12 hour test came up with a figure of
2.51 kWh giving a 24 hour value ofapproximately 5 kWh. A quick
calculation on average electricity
charges provides a quarterly cost of
about £50.
In my house (detached 4 bedroom), andgas heated, that is close to a third of
my electricity costs. Of course, if youDecember 2009

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 24

do not run all day (I only run for about
14 hours per day) you have to adjust
accordingly, and if you run a second
computer for receiving (likely to be lesspowerful and cheaper to run) you must
add this cost as well. Whilst a lot
cheaper than having golf as a hobby,
nevertheless it is worth rememberingthat for some it may be an important
issue when considering the use of one
or two computers. A few lost segments
may be a worthwhile penalty to keep
down running costs.

shareware library. How times havechanged.

So there are a few brief things to beconsidered. Further information, which
may help your own personal decision,
can be found on David Taylor’s website
atI would like to take this opportunity to
put on record my thanks not only for
all the work and effort that Les
undertook for the whole weather
satellite fraternity but for his help andguidance as editor in my own
endeavours at publications andcolumns in the magazines.

http://www.satsignal.eu/wxsat/atovs/index.html

and there is a wealth of knowledge in
the GEO Quarterly articles.
…. and finallyThis will be my last column under theleadership of Les Hamilton, Editor, who
is retiring to pursue other activities.
Les and I go back quite a long way tothe days of that other remote imaging
group which shall remain nameless. I
took over from Les when he ran thethen called Shareware Corner anddistributed lots of floppies from the

Les became make-up editor during
2000 and by June 2002 took over as
editor whilst still undertaking the
make-up editor’s job, positions he heldwith that publication and subsequently
GEO until the present date. It is easy
to forget that Les has actually been
doing two extremely demanding jobs
for such a long time with little or no
help.

Software Updates
Just a reminder that the list below isfor full tested releases and does notinclude the latest beta (or alpha)versions currently on test. Those canalso be downloaded from David’s site.
David Taylor’s latest releases
ATOVS Reader
AVHRR Manager
BUFR Viewer
CMA Viewer
DWDSAT HRPT Viewer
GeoSatSignal
GRIB Viewer
GroundMap
HDF Viewer
HRPT Reader
Kepler Manager
MapToGeo
Metop Manager
MSG Animator
MSG Data Manager
PassControl
SatSignal
Sea-Ice & Viewer
Wxtrack

You will be sorely missed Les and I
hope that you will now find more timeto enjoy your many other interests andhobbies which I know have had to put
on back burner for long periods.
Good luck to you and please do notedit out my last few paragraphs under
your stewardship!
I look forward to working with the new
editorial team.

NOAAPORT
I wonder if there is any GEO interest in the new effort Patrik
Tast has been exploring. He has written a program thatallows me to decode the NOAAPORT signal to make images.
He is still refining the program, but it already does the
production of images. That’s all I was interested in.
I won’t bother with any detailed explanation of NOAAPORT. I
think many readers will already know more about
NOAAPORT than I do.
Last year, when I realised that NOAA sends weather datafrom a geosynchronous satellite that was within my view, I
decided to try receiving those signals. I gathered together
some free components that are considered obsolete, butwhich can be obtained free around here, and constructed a
C-band TV receiving system. I use a 2.5 meter diameter
antenna with the TV feed components. The receiver is in a
PCI slot in a Windows computer. My interest in this hobby
is strongly regulated by ‘build it yourself for minimal $$’. I
have less than $100.00 invested in this NOAAPORT
receiving system. The Twinhan PCI TV can be purchased for$60.00; the antenna with the C-Band feed is often available
free because fewer people use them and want to clean theiryards of an unused ‘eyesore’.

v 1.2.0v 1.6.6
v 1.1.2
v 1.2.0
v 1.1.2
v 7.1.2
v 2.3.4
v 2.1.2
v 1.4.2v 2.9.2
v 1.3.2
v 1.1.6
v 1.4.2v 2.5.33
v 2.5.34
v 3.2.4
v 5.1.4
v 1.4.2
v 3.8.2

To learn more about those programsand to download the latest updates
please go to
http://www.satsignal.eu

Once I was able to receive and decode the NOAAPORT data,
I streamed the data to Patrik, who wrote a program todecode the them. Patrik has published a web page
describing how you can make images from NOAAPORT
signals at
http://noaaport.poes-weather.com:8081/

I have attempted to locate other hobbyists here in the North
American region but have had little success. It may be that
there is no significant interest in building low cost
NOAAPORT stations around here. It seems that most of the
GEO activity is located in Europe. Of course, the NOAAPORTsatellite is not visible from Europe so, probably, this project
isn't of any significant interest to GEO readers.
If anyone in the North America area (or elsewhere) would beinterested in NOAAPORT imaging, please get in touch withme atjerrymart@verizon.net
Jerry Martes KD6JDJ
California, USA

www.geo-web.org.uk

35

GEO Quarterly No 24

Group for Earth Observation

December 2009

Mike Stevens (G4CFZ)
Following everything I’ve written previously
about life without a RAMDisk, who would
have thought I would go this far. But I am
not one to be beaten and, let’s face it, mostmembers are using the system very
successfully indeed—although others are
just too scared to even take it on because it
is too daunting. Well finally I did; I felt it had
to be attempted, and you have toexperiment and try to conquer these things.
I will say this: I did try the AR-Soft RAMDisk,
but at each attempt, on two separate PCs, it
took out all my memory banks. I’m not sure
why this happened but it was a costly
experience. However, that’s in the past and I
decided to look forward. Here’s how I
approached the problem.
My last experiment, where I added an extra
hard drive in my E-Machine PC is stillrunning very successfully with just the odd
loss of segments usually about one per
orbit on Metop, but not all the time. So I
decided to experiment with a RAMDisk; butwhich one, given the problems I have hadin the past? The first thing I did was a
Google search, and was surprised at theamount of information available. There
were around twenty pages on RAMDisks,some free and others costing quite a bit ofmoney. The site that really interested memost waswww.dataram.com

which, incidentally, is also linked fromDavid Taylor’s excellent website; so in I
went to find out more information.
The first thing to do is to locate anddownload the software that suits yoursystem. Mine is a Windows XP Home
Edition 2002 with Service Pack 3, for which
the appropriate free software was Dataram
RAMDisk. There is also another
Windows XP program, Cenatek
RAMDiskXP/2000, which has to bepurchased and registered as it runs out
after a 30 day trial period.
I installed the Dataram software and, being
very cautious, followed the instructions to
the letter. Once all was finished, the firstthing I did was to open up the RAMDisk
user manual and print it out. You need tohave a good read of this item before you
run the RAMDisk program. The Dataram
manual is very good, introducing the
RAMDisk and providing screen by screen
definitions and settings. I found it very
explicit and easy to read, giving full
explanations into the working andconfiguration of the system. You can also
visit David Taylor’s website and read his
explanation and instructions at
www.satsignal.eu/
wxsat/Dexatek/RAMdisk.html

36

Configuring the RAMDisk
When you run Dataram RAMDisk, the firstscreen displays four tabs, the first being<Settings>. First, I defined <Disk Size> as
250 Mb, then I selected <FAT16 Partition>and <Windows boot sector>. This
completed, the RAMDisk can be started.
The program should then indicate to youthat the RAMDisk has successfully started.
The next step is to take an image or copyof the disk. To do this, move to the <Loadand Save> tab and click on <Save Disk
Image Now>. This will take a second or
two; once that is done the final step is totick the <Load Disk Image at Start-up> box
and that’s it. You are up and running.
At this point I checked that the RAMDisk
was showing up in ‘My Computer’ on myPC, and there it was, showing as ‘Local
Disk (G:)’. It had automatically been
assigned to the next letter following my
Lacie external hard drive, used for picturestorage, which is drive F:. To keep
everything standard, I changed the
RAMDisk drive letter to ‘Z’ to help in
identifying it. This is done by opening up<Control Panel> and navigating to<Administrative Tools → Computer
Management → Disk Management>, right-

clicking on the drive you wish to change,
then selecting <Change drive letter ...> andselecting the letter ‘Z’.

recv-ini file, and, in its [locations] section
added the following entry
file_database_directory=Z:\receiving

then saved all the program files and went
to operation mode.
On switching on Tellicast all went well andeverything behaved normally as files
started to load into the correct sections. I
checked to see if the RAMDisk was
operating well with the 0.fsy file active andit was, so I left the system working for 24hours to see the results. This is whenthings became very interesting indeed.
A day later the results where amazing. I
wasn’t so surprised, given that manymembers have been been discussing it fora long time, but I was pleasantly surprisedwith my pictures. Metop Manager, AVHRRManager and NOAA-GAC had all
performed perfectly with all segments
intact. MSG-Data Manager, the one I
monitor regularly had loaded perfectly
without a single missing segment, andMSG-RSS was also in good shape, nosegments missing here either.
All in all a perfect display of EUMETCast
reception and I’m very pleased with theresults. It’s taken me a long time to reachthis point. After the earlier set of problems I
feared yet more—but not so.

Once the RAMDisk driver has been started
up it will thereafter run all the time, evenwhen you switch off or reboot your PC; it
will only stop is if you specifically command
it to do so by hitting the <Stop> button,
which removes the RAMDisk from memory
and returns it to Windows.

Conclusion

System Restore
The next procedure is very important if you
are using Windows XP, because XP has afeature called ‘System Restore’, which canreturn your PC configuration to an earlier
state to help overcome problems. You haveto go into the Registry to modify it, orserious problems could occur, but luckily
there was an excellent article written by
Arne van Belle on page 39 of theSeptember 2006 GEO Quarterly which
explains this in full. The problem arises
because XP does not recognise RAMDisk
and treats it as a hard drive. When I had
one of my PCs fail with the AR-Soft
RAMDisk, System Restore took my PC
right back to its first start point: so it is an
important step.

A good result, and running the two systems
side by side does reveal which is the betterone. I am pleased that I experimented with
RAMDisk. It is everything that members
have said it is.

Tellicast
I now had to add a line in the Tellicast
recv-ini file to insert the drive letter for the
RAMDisk, which is ‘Z’. I opened up the

www.geo-web.org.uk

I now have a system working to full
capacity with no loss of segments. Picture
quality is excellent as the Metop-A image
opposite shows, and the one thing I wasworried about regarding memory problems
has not occurred.

So come on guys give it a go. If I can do itso can you. I know this article has probably
been read by some who are thinking: ‘well I
know all this’. But think of readers startingout with EUMETCast for the first time, who
don’t yet know how to get the best out of
their system, but who wish to try out a
RAMDisk and don’t know where to start.
This is for them.
My thanks and appreciation to David Taylor
for allowing me to use some of his material
and to Douglas Deans for help and advice
on some technical matters; also to Arne
van Belle for his article.
Happy weather watch from Portland.