Group for Earth Observation

The Independent Amateur Quarterly Publication for

Number 12

Earth Observation and Weather Satellite Enthusiasts

December 2006

Inside this issue . . .
The European Space
Agency’s new MetOp
satellite is now in orbit.
Read our features on MetOp
and its instrumentation.
If you own one of theGerman R2FX APT
receivers, you can operate it
under computer control.
Clive Finnis explains how.
With the dark winter nights
now upon us, what better
time to construct a highlinearity LNA for your APT
set-up. John Silver reveals
his latest design project.
Werkgroep Kunstmanen
held a workshop lastSeptember. Read Les
Hamilton’s report on his
visit to GEO’s Dutch
counterparts inside.
Did you know that you canmonitor current lightning
activity over Europe via theInternet? Peter Bartlett
introduces us to
Blitzortung.org.
Following the feature on
sunglint last issue,
Marciano Righini sent us aselection of excellent
examples from his image
archives.
Plus all the usual featuresand satellite images ...

A high-resolution Mars Reconnaissance orbiter image showing gullies in a crater in the Terra Sirenum region of Mars.
Read more on page 10,
Image NASA/JPL

Keep up with the latest WXsat News every Month
Radio and Communications Monitoring Monthly provides a regular 4-page
Weather Satellite column, “Satellites' View”, by Lawrence Harris. In addition,
there is an annual ‘special’ issue covering WXsats, containing additionalfeatures and reviews written by Lawrence.
Recently, our September issue carried an additional article reviewing
the R2FX APT weather satellite receiver, while in the October issue,
Clive Hardy described how you can build a copper pipe QFH antenna
for VHF satellite monitoring.
‘We are pleased to serve all the specialist areas of the hobby’, commented
Editor Kevin Nice. ‘I am pleased to say that all of our regular columns
provide more information than any current or former alternative.’
Radio and Communications Monitoring Monthly (ISSN 1749-7809) aims tobecome the magazine of choice for all serious radio enthusiasts and isavailable from most good newsagents as well as direct from the publishers
Subscriptions are available world-wide. For more information contact
Nice One Publishing Ltd, Tel: +44 (0)1202 862690 or visit the website

www.monitoringmonthly.co.uk

CONTACT INFORMATIONO

ur front cover image this month was taken by the MERIS
instrument aboard ESA’s Envisat and provides continuing
evidence for the influence of climate change on our planet. The scene
confirms the existence of unprecedentedly large stretches of open
water and broken ice in the Arctic Ocean north of Svalbard. Read
more on page 7.
t last the waiting is over. Europe’s MetOp satellite is safely inorbit and undergoing its commissioning trials. Although it willprobably be early 2007 before regular images come on stream, you canread about the successful launch of the new satellite in articles byJohn Tellick and Peter Wakelin.
s GEO looks boldly forward to embarking on its 4th year, we bid
farewell to Nigel Evans in his capacity as Membership Secretary.
Nigel now spends much of his time working in France and no longer
feels he has sufficient time to do this important task effectively. He
does, however, intend to remain on the GEO Management Team andhelp out where possible. You can read Nigel’s reminiscences on page15.
ith no candidate yet identified to take over as editor, Les
Hamilton has agreed to continue in a caretaker role for the next
few issues. Les notes that just a small nucleus among the GEO
membership is providing nearly all the articles. If more readers wereprepared to provide copy and share their images and experiences withus, either in the form of articles or ‘Letters to the Editor’, it would
make his task of filling all the Quarterly pages very much easier.
hen winter starts to bite and the nights become cold and frosty,
remember to look out for some spectacular infrared NOAA
images. We have a selection on pages 31 and 33. Do give this a try,and don’t forget to send us your most interesting ones for publication.

A
A

W
W

Public Relations
Francis Bell,
Coturnix House,
Rake Lane,
Milford,Godalming,
Surrey GU8 5AB
England.
Tel:(01483) 416 897
e-mail: francis@geo-web.org.uk
General Information
John Tellick
e-mail: info@geo-web.org.uk
EditorLes Hamilton,
8 Deeside Place
Aberdeen AB15 7PW
Scotland, UK.
e-mail: editor@geo-web.org.uk
Membership and Subscriptions
Nigel Evans,
L’Eventail, 7 Gloster Ropewalk, Aycliffe,
Dover CT17 9ES
England, UK.
e-mail: members@geo-web.org.uk
Meteorological Consultant
Peter Wakelin
e-mail: meteo@geo-web.org.uk
Technical Consultant (hardware)David Simmonse-mail: tech@geo-web.org.uk
Webmaster and Website Matters
Ray Godden
e-mail: webmaster@geo-web.org.uk
Education Coordinator
David Paintere-mail: education@geo-web.org.uk
GEO Shop Manager
Clive Finnis
e-mail: shop@geo-web.org.uk
International LiaisonPeter Green‘Hollowtree’
Eggesford
Devon EX18 7QX
Tel:(01769) 580 700
e-mail: international@geo-web.org.uk

Contents
GEO Report
The Strait of Dover - a personal view
MetOp-A Onboard Instrument Review
Summer Ice Anomaly
Contrails
A Successful Launch for MetOp-A
Earth Imaging News
Alaskan Dust Storm
Run your R2FX under Computer Control
Apparent Anomaly in Midwinter NOAA-17 Images
It’s been a Great 3 Years
An SRTM view over Tanzania’s Crater Highlands
A High Linearity LNA Design for APT
News in Brief

Francis BellJohn Tellick
ESA
ESA
Francis BellJohn Tellick
Peter Wakelin
Clive Finnis
Les Hamilton
Nigel EvansJohn Silver

GEO Shop
NOAA Satellite Predictions for the UK and western Europe
Helplines and Internet Discussion Groups
Copy Deadline for March 2007 issue
GEO Membership Renewal FormRadar Satellites - Part 1: The Russian Scene
Cover and full-page Satellite Image details
Alaskan Storm Shatters Antarctic Iceberg
A Visit to Werkgroep Kunstmanen
Tracking Lightning on the Web
Make Multiple HRPT Images in a Single Operation
In Tray: Readers’ comments and letters
Software Showcase
Cleveland Volcano Eruption
Atlantic

Peter Wakelin

2
4
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
14
15
16
17
20
22
i
ii
iii
iii
iv

23
25
Les Hamilton
26
Les Hamilton/David Taylor 28
Peter Bartlett
32
Fred van den Bosch
36
38
41
42
Francis Bell43

PublisherGroup for Earth Observation Ltd.
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Company number 4975597.
The registered office is Coturnix House, Rake
Lane, Milford, Godalming, Surrey GU8 5AB
Printing
Advent Colour Ltd., Unit 1, Crown Way,
Walworth Industrial Estate
Andover, Hampshire SP10 5LU.
Responsibility for Constructional
Projects and Software
Every effort is made to ensure that the technicaland constructional articles published in thisQuarterly are correct. However, the ultimate
responsibility is with the reader to ensure thesafety of constructions and for any interfacingwith other equipment. GEO cannot accept
liability for shortcomings in any publisheddesign or any constructions carried out bymembers or other third parties.
Copyright GEO © 2006
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 from theeditor.

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

Francis BellMy first comment must be one ofcongratulations to EUMETSAT for the
successful launch into the planned orbit of
their satellite MetOp-A. This launch marksa milestone for the European programmeof polar orbiting weather satellites. It
complements the American NOAA series ofpolar orbiting weather satellites with which
many of GEO’s members are familiar. Now
both NOAA and EUMETSAT satellites canmonitor the Earth’s atmosphere andweather systems from a distance of only
800 km.
I did follow the launch of MetOp-A andsearched, but to no avail, for a TV channel
covering it. However, I understand thatJohn Tellick may have a video recording of
the event which he may show at our
Leicester Symposium next May.
The MetOp programme has taken many
years of planning and implementation. A
very expensive programme of course, withthe costs being shared by the governmentsof EUMETSAT’s 19 member states. The
freely disseminated data which direct users
anticipate will be a major contribution toobserving and trying to understand ourplanet’s weather.
On behalf of GEO, our congratulations to
EUMETSAT for the launch of MetOp-A andour best wishes for the subsequent
programme.
Now for a disappointment
Our repeated requests via this Quarterly
publication for help with the editorial roleand membership secretary’s work-load has
met with a near zero response from themembership. It is quite unreasonable toexpect already busy and dedicated people
to continue indefinitely with their services toour group without the support of others.
I know that, within our membership, there
are many talented people and I hope wecan call on this background resource, thus
spreading the work-load of running ourrespected international Group. If you canhelp, or are offering some of your skills andtime, please get in touch with myself, the
GEO Quarterly Editor or the Membership
Secretary. If this is the last GEO Quarterly
you ever receive don’t say you haven’t
been warned. There are no payments
involved; the reward is contributing to ourGroups success. This should be reward
enough. An alternative may be to double
the membership fee an pay somebody to
do these jobs but that is not quite in the2

spirit of an amateur organisation where
there should be a willingness to help eachother.
Meetings
Our membership is geographicallydispersed both within the UK and morethinly throughout the rest of the world. To
organise an annual meeting suitable foreverybody is almost impossible. In the past
we have met at the National Space Centre
in Leicester, a city that is geographicallyalmost at the centre of the UK. Alternative
meeting venues have been examined but
for 2007 our annual meeting will once more
be at the NSC, Leicester, which is booked
for May 19, 2007. Please note this is not abank holiday weekend. A guest speakerfrom EUMETSAT has been invited: the restof the day, to be planned request, will bemainly devoted to workshops, self-helpgroups and other practical sessions.
Although the Symposium is stillover five months away, now is
the time to contact us with ideasthat you would like to see
implemented on the day.
Please contact me, Francis Bell at
francis@geo-web.org.uk

or by post or telephone (details on page 1).
Further details will appear in our next
Quarterly but, in the meantime, the date foryour diary is May 19, 2007 in Leicester,where I look forward to renewing the manyfriendships enjoyed in previous years.
Chichester
It has been suggested that GEO should
experiment with regional meetings. I visitedthe planetarium at Chichester a few weeks
ago. They have just installed an MSG
receiving station which I was very pleased
to see during its commissioning phase.
With so many school children passing
through their planetarium’s doors there canbe few better locations for a live MSG
station. For those living in the southeast of
England it looks like an attractive venue fora GEO regional single day meeting. Detailsof any meeting at Chichester will be
published as soon as there are definitiveplans.

De Kunstmaan. I cannot pretend I can readeverything but I do my best. In my
judgment they are a very talentedorganisation and they are also very
supportive of GEO. I have been to two of
their meetings in Utrecht and I know thatthree members of GEO’s management
team visited Utrecht in September for oneof their regular meetings.
Our Dutch friends meet in Utrecht fivetimes per year. Their meeting dates for2007 are January 13, March 10, May12,
September 8 and November 10. I believe
non-members are welcome to attend, butcheck with me by email and I will forward
contact details for their Group.
You can learn more about Werkgroep
Kunstmanen by visiting their website andclicking on ‘English version’ in the sidebar.
http://www.kunstmanen.nl

Dates for your Diary
Saturday May 19, 2007 - GEO’s annual
symposium at NSC Leicester.
July 6, 2007 - A visit to Darmstadt.
EUMETSAT have generously agreed tohost GEO for a day at their headquarters,with a potential visit to Usingen. This will
provide an opportunity for our membershipto meet EUMETSAT staff and see theiroperations. It will also enable ourcontinental friends to meet some of GEO’s
members who are normally only to befound in the UK. Further details, when
confirmed, will be published in our next
Quarterly but do put the date in your diary
now if you are interested.
July 27-29, 2007 - I hope GEO will be
invited to AMSAT’s annual colloquium in
Guildford. GEO has attended this event forthe past three years and hope to be there
again.

Werkgroep Kunstmanen
I know that our Dutch friends in Werkgroep
Kunstmanen are still very active with thereception and processing of weather
satellite data. I am a member of theirGroup and receive their publication

www.geo-web.org.uk

GEO’s extensive display at AMSAT 2006
Photo: David Taylor

December 2006

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 12

September 24-28, 2007 - EUMETSAT /AMS conference in Amsterdam. I hope
GEO will be there representing anddescribing our widespread membershipbase and our use of weather satellite data educational, amateur, self-training interests
and non commercial applications.
September / October 2007 - The Leicester
Amateur Radio Rally (LARS). GEO hopes
to have a stand there.
November 2007 - The Kempton AmateurRadio and Computer rally. GEO will try to
be there.
There may be a NOAA conference in 2007
but I have no details of dates or venue. If
the conference takes place I will try torepresent GEO

This question is almost automatic. On
which date and at what time was
EUMETSAT’s latest satellite MetOp-A
launched? For an answer I will accept thetime plus or minus a few minutes but
please specify the time zone. I favour UTC
but any specified time zone will be
acceptable. Email your entry to me at
francis@geo-web.org.uk

As usual the prize will be a free entry to ourannual symposium for the winner or theirnominee. I will pick at random a winner on
December 25, 2006.
And finally ...
Without hesitation I finish by offering on
behalf of all the membership my thanks tothose who contribute to our Quarterly
publication. But I also encourage others toshare photographs, satellite images, text,
technical skills, experiences or any otheraspect of our hobby which can be sharedwith the rest of GEO’s worldwide
membership.

Detail from the first high-resolution AVHRR image acquired by MetOp-A
as it flew over Turkey and Egypt during its first orbit on October 25, 2006
Image © EUMETSAT 2006, rendered at the CalVal Facility

www.geo-web.org.uk

3

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

John Tellick
An image from the ASTER instrument
aboard NASA’s Terra satellite, showing
the English Channel and its environs inhigh resolution was published recently,
prompting John Tellick to scan it forfeatures of interest.
The image, which was originally acquired
on March 14, 2001, is far too large toreproduce in its entirety, but interested
readers can locate it at:
http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/
gallery-detail.asp?name=tunnel
Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS andU.S./Japan ASTER Science TeamThe image opposite shows the coastline on
the Kent side of the Channel. Insets at
67% resolution show Ramsgate harbour
and Pegwell Bay (upper) and Doverharbour with its environs (lower).
The Strait of Dover or, as the French
would have it ‘Le Pas de Calais’, and theWhite Cliffs have a place in many an
Englishman's heart and psyche.
That mere 20 mile stretch of water is a big
part of our history in keeping our country
secure for centuries—except that is, for
the Romans and William the Conqueror.
And still to this day this 20 mile stretch ofwater, for some, 'protects us from Europe.'
Even though the physical barrier has beenbreached by the Channel Tunnel, formany, alas, there still seems to be amental barrier. England, the home of fish
and chips, HP sauce, cricket on a village
green, afternoon tea and warm beer:
France the home of wine, gourmet food,the smell of Gauloises, pungent cheeses
and garlic, the TGV and haute couture.
Will the English and the French everlearn to love one another?
I really enjoy sitting on the cliffs at Doveron a clear day, watching the shipping in
the Channel and the views across to
Calais, the French cliffs and down to
Boulogne. With a pair of binoculars you
can see the clock tower of Calais town halland the dome of Boulogne cathedral.
So, I was interested to see this image fromNASA taken by the Advanced Spaceborne
Thermal Emission and Reflection
Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terrasatellite on March 14th 2001, showing in
great detail the Strait of Dover and theadjacent parts of England and France.

4

May I take you on a tour and point out
some of the features shown?
Starting at the end of the north Kent coastis the town of Margate, a bustling 'kiss me
quick' holiday resort in the early 60's and70's with its once-famous amusementpark ‘Dreamland’. Also famous in theearly 60's for 'Mods and Rockers':
remember them? I do!
Following the coastline southwards is the
town of Ramsgate with its harbour wall.
From here car ferries cross to Ostend in
Belgium. The first cross channel
hovercraft services by HoverLloyd (1969)
departed from a concrete apron built out
into Pegwell Bay, just west of Ramsgate.
HoverLloyd merged with SeaSpeed toform HoverSpeed and moved to Doverdocks. These services no longer operate.
This low-tide image shows up the cliffs,
stretching from Margate all the way tosandy Pegwell Bay, just south ofRamsgate, well. This bay was the site of
the Roman invasion and is now animportant nature reserve. And at theextreme left of the image, slightly north of
the bay, Manston International Airport(an ex-WW2 airfield) stands out well.
Off the shallow coast, the Goodwin Sands
are visible. These shifting sands are very
treacherous—still a danger to shipping
and a graveyard for many wrecks over the
centuries. The sands become exposed forseveral hours twice a day at low tide. In
the late 50s, my brother and fellow
members of the Royal Marines School ofMusic in Deal (the town opposite with apier) used to hold cricket matches on the
Goodwin Sands in summer.
South of Deal, the North Downs finallyreach the coast and become tall cliffs,
showing up as the white edging all along
the coastline, past Dover and as far as
Folkestone. Dover is the major crosschannel port, with its large sea-wall
enclosing the eastern and western docks.
Behind the eastern docks, on top of thecliffs, stands Dover Castle, a centuries-old
look-out with substantial remains of a
Roman lighthouse.
Slightly west of Dover a long oblong ofland juts out slightly into the sea in frontof the famous White Cliffs. This isSamphire Hoe, a man-made extension to
England where 4.9 million cubic metres ofchalk marl excavated from the English

www.geo-web.org.uk

side of the Channel Tunnel was dumped.
It is now a very interesting and valuable
nature reserve and a wonderful place toenjoy the White Cliffs.
Half of the virgin soil was planted withwild flower seed and the remainder withrye grass. The rye grass soon died out andhas now been colonised by local flora. The
whole area abounds with flowering plants,
insects, birds and even lizards and snakes,
including adders. At certain times of theyear the air is heavy with the scent of themany wild flowering plants.
The Strait of Dover. Vive la difference, I
say—that’s what makes living in Europe
so fascinating.
Join me next time for Part 2 when we’ll
cross the Channel to look at the landscapeand some of the interesting features on
the French side of ‘La Manche’.

A Snowy Tale
It was reported in early October that, for only
the fourth time in a hundred years, Scotland
had become a snow-free zone. Other parts of
the world were not so fortunate.
Johannesburg, South Africa experienced its
first snowfall for 25 years on August 2 as muchof the nation fell into the grip of icy
temperatures. And just two weeks later, threepeople were discovered frozen to death on
Mount Fletcher in the Eastern Cape.
Heavy snow fell over most of New Zealand on
August 22, hilly suburbs being the worst
affected as schools closed and transport was
disrupted. While farmers and parents had theirlives disrupted by the snow, skiers were said
to be appreciating the snowfall.
Late-season snowfall caused traffic chaos in
Tasmania, Australia on September 25 when it
hit suburban areas of the city of Hobart,
closing roads.
The Mount Evans Scenic Byway, which claims
to be the highest paved road in North
America, was closed by heavy snowfall on
September 27. It is not expected to reopen
again till Mid-May next year!
It proved to be unlucky October 13 for western
New York state when an early snow storm
caused havoc, leaving roads blocked, powerlines down and some 250 000 consumers
without electricity. The heaviest falls, someapproaching 100 centimetres, occurred in the
Buffalo area near the Canadian border, which
experienced its heaviest snowfall for a single
October day since records began in 1870.

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

European Space Agency
Starting with the launch of Meteosat-1 in 1977, European
geostationary weather satellites have contributed hugely to climate
studies and towards making accurate weather forecasts. The
successful launch of EUMETSAT’s MetOp-A on October 7 2006
marks a new dimension in European weather satellites. MetOp is
the first in a series of European polar orbiting spacecraft and flies
in an 817 kilometre sun-synchronous polar orbit with an inclinationof 98.7° to the equator. MetOp takes about 100 minutes tocomplete each orbit and during this interval, the Earth will haverotated some 25°, allowing observations to be made over adjacentstrips of the planet on successive passes.
Polar satellites orbit at a lower
altitude than geostationary
ones—typically around 800 km
compared with 36 000 km—and
can thus observe our planet ingreater detail. As its contribution
to this arena, Europe has enteredinto a cooperative venture with
America, whereby it provides the‘morning’ satellite (MetOp) whichcrosses the equator at 09.30 local
time, while the Americans provide
the ‘afternoon’ satellite (NOAA)
whose orbit passes over theequator at 14.30 local time.
Together, these two orbits will
maximise the coverage overwhich observations are made andprovide the inputs needed for thecomputer numerical models on
which our weather forecasts
depend.

Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

In fact, severe weather poses one of today's biggest challenges as
the damage caused by weather-related natural disasters is
becoming increasingly significant. It is crucial, therefore, that we
continue to further our understanding of Earth’s atmosphere and its
processes to enable better predictions on our ever-changing
climate.
MetOp’s Suite of Instruments
MetOp-A will carry a set of seven ‘heritage’ instruments provided
by the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and the French Space Agency (CNES) plus
a new generation of five European instruments offering improved
sensing capabilities to both meteorologists and climatologists.
Several of the instruments measure similar aspects of theatmosphere, namely temperature and humidity, but use a variety ofmeasuring techniques to acquire their data. This approach is
crucial for numerical weather prediction, which not only requires
high-quality observations but also needs huge amounts of datafrom different sources to feed into the models.

MetOp and NOAA orbits
Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

The European contribution from the EUMETSAT Polar System(EPS) will provide ever more precise observations aimed towards
the improvement of weather and climate forecasts. The field ofsatellite meteorology is about to enter a new era with the launch of
MetOp-A, the first in a series of three new polar-orbiting MetOp(Meteorological Operational) satellites which form the spacesegment of the EPS
Why do we Need MetOp?
Weather has a major impact on many facets of daily life:
agriculture, business, industry, transport, tourism etc: heavy snow
brings transport to a standstill; a heat wave increases demand forwater; a hurricane can bring widespread devastation. The
economic and social benefits of accurate weather forecasts arehuge, allowing breathing space to make important decisions andprepare plans of action. Typical examples would be advancing crop
harvesting to avoid rains, gritting roads prior to frost or snowfall
and re-routing air traffic and shipping to avoid severe weather.
Knowing that hazardous weather conditions are on the way cansave human life and property.

6

MetOp-A, due for launch in July 2006, is the first in a series of three EUMETSAT
Polar System (EPS) satellites developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) for
EUMETSAT, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological
Satellites. This artist's impression shows the deployment of the solar array.

With its sophisticated array of instruments and diverse measuring
techniques MetOp-A promises to provide outstanding data sets toadvance the field of meteorology, which will ultimately improve theaccuracy of weather forecasting and our understanding of climatechange.

The European Instruments
The Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) is one of themost advanced onboard instruments measuring infrared radiation
emitted from the surface of the Earth to derive data of
unprecedented accuracy and resolution on humidity andatmospheric temperature profiles in the troposphere and lower
stratosphere, as well as some of the chemical components playing
a key role in climate monitoring, global change and atmosphericchemistry.
The Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) acquires measurements at
various altitudes of atmospheric humidity, including rain, snow, hailand sleet, and temperature by measuring microwave radiation
emitted from the surface of the Earth.
The Global Navigation Satellite System Receiver for AtmosphericSounding (GRAS) is a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receiverthat operates as an atmospheric-sounding instrument, providing aminimum of 500 atmospheric profiles per day through a process of
GPS radio occultation. GRAS will supply atmospheric soundings ofthe temperature and humidity of the Earth’s atmosphere.

www.geo-web.org.uk

The Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT), an enhanced follow-on
instrument to the highly successful scatterometers flown on ESA’s
ERS-1 and ERS-2 satellites, measures wind speed and direction
over the ocean. Its six antennas allow for simultaneous coverage of
two swaths on either side of the satellite ground track, providing
twice the information of the earlier instruments. ASCAT also
contributes to activities in areas as diverse as land and sea ice
monitoring, soil moisture, snow properties and soil thawing.
The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) is aspectrometer that collects light arriving from the sun-illuminatedEarth’s atmosphere or a direct view to the Sun and decomposes it
into its spectral components. The recorded spectra are used toderive a detailed picture of the atmospheric content and profile ofozone, nitrogen dioxide, water vapour, oxygen, bromine oxide andother gases.

The Heritage Instruments(These are the components common to both MetOp-A and NOAA
satellite payloads)
Meteorological Instruments

the Earth’s surface in six spectral bands in the range 0.58 - 12.5
microns.
Data Collection Instrument
The Advanced Data Collection System (A-DCS), provided by CNES,
will provide worldwide in-situ environmental data collection and
Doppler-derived location services with the basic objective ofstudying and protecting the Earth’s environment. A-DCS, also
known as Argos, is an advanced version of the system presently
operated jointly by NOAA and CNES.

Space Weather Instrument
The Space Environment Monitor (SEM-2), provided by NOAA, is aspectrometer that provides measurements to determine theintensity of the Earth’s radiation belts and the flux of charged
particles at the satellite altitude. It also supplies knowledge of solar
terrestrial phenomena and warnings of solar wind occurrences that
may impair long-range communication, high-altitude operations,
damage to satellite circuits and solar panels, or cause changes indrag and magnetic torque on satellites.

The Advanced Microwave Sounding Units, AMSU-A1 and AMSU-A2,

Search and Rescue Instruments

measure scene radiance in the microwave spectrum. The data fromthese instruments are used in conjunction with the High-resolution
Infrared Sounder (HIRS) instrument to calculate the global
atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles from the Earth’s
surface to the upper stratosphere. The data are also used toprovide precipitation and surface measurements including snow
cover, sea ice concentration and soil moisture.
The High-resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS/4) is a 20channel radiometric sounder measuring radiance in the infrared(IR) spectrum. Data from HIRS/4 are used in conjunction with datafrom the AMSU instruments to calculate the atmosphere’s verticaltemperature profile and pressure from the Earth’s surface to about
40 km altitude. HIRS/4 data are also used to determine ocean
surface temperatures, total atmospheric ozone levels, precipitablewater, cloud height and coverage and surface radiance.
The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR/3) provides
day and night imaging of land, water and clouds and measures sea
surface temperature, ice, snow and vegetation cover by scanning

The Search And Rescue Processor (SARP-3), provided by CNES,
receives and processes emergency signals from aircraft and ships
in distress and determines the name, frequency and time of thesignal. These pre-processed data are then fed into the Search And
Rescue Repeater (SARR) instrument for immediate transmission to
Search and Rescue Satellite (SARSAT) distress terminals on the
ground.
The Search And Rescue Repeater (SARR), provided by the Canadian
Department of Defence through NOAA, receives and down-links
emergency signals from aircraft and ships in distress and provides
a down-link for data received by the Search and Rescue Processor(SARP-3). SARR receives distress beacon signals on three
separate frequencies, translates them and retransmits them toLocal User Terminals (LUTs) on the ground. These terminals
process the signals, determine the location of the beacons andforward the information to a rescue mission control centre.
Copyright 2000 - 2006 © European Space Agency. All rights reserved

European Space Agency
Satellite images acquired during the latter part of August 2006 haveshown, for the first time, dramatic openings in the Arctic’s perennial sea
ice pack north of Svalbard. These extended far into the Russian Arctic,
all the way to the North Pole, and occupied a geographic area larger
than the British Isles.

‘If this anomaly trend continues, the North-East Passage or ‘Northern
Sea Route between Europe and Asia will be open over longer intervalsof time, and it is conceivable that we might see attempts at sailingaround the world directly across the summer Arctic Ocean within thenext 10-20 years.’

Our front cover image of the region, acquired by the Medium
Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument
aboard ESA’s Envisat on August 29, clearly illustrates thelarge areas of open water and brash ice north of Svalbard.

During the last 25 years, satellites observing the Arctic have witnessed
reductions in the minimum ice extent at the end of summer from around8 million km² in the early 1980s to the historic minimum of under 5.5
million km² in 2005—changes widely viewed as a consequence ofgreenhouse warming.

In addition, data from Envisat’s Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar(ASAR) instrument and the AMSR-E instrument aboard the EOS Aqua
satellite have enabled scientists to determine that between 5% and 10%of the Arctic’s perennial sea ice (which had survived the recent summer
melt season) had been fragmented by late summer storms.
The area between Spitzbergen, the North Pole and Severnaya Zemlya is
confirmed by AMSR-E to have had much lower ice concentrations thanwitnessed during earlier years.
Mark Drinkwater of ESA’s Oceans/Ice Unit said: ‘This situation is unlike
anything observed in previous record low ice seasons. It is highly
imaginable that a ship could have passed from Spitzbergen or Northern
Siberia through what is normally pack ice to reach the North Pole
without difficulty.

Satellite observations during the past two years have also shown thatthe extent of perennial ice is rapidly declining, but this strange conditionin late August marks the first time the perennial ice-pack appears to
exhibit thinner and more mobile conditions in the European sector of thecentral Arctic than in earlier years.
Though the reason for the considerable change in the ice packconfiguration is still unknown, it is likely to have been due to theparticularly stormy weather conditions that prevailed during much ofAugust.
Reference
The Disappearing Perennial Arctic Sea Ice,GEO Quarterly No 1 (Launch Issue) page 5, March 2004.

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

must be trails of condensed water lasting
for a few seconds or a period of hours andit is this aspect of the phenomenon that I
do not understand. Perhaps somebody
could explain these effects to GEO’s
membership.

Francis BellAs a slight digression I note that five of
the contrails in the photograph show a
distinctive spiral edge which is caused by
vortex shedding from the aircraft’s wingtips. It is quite possible to see the same
effect on weather satellite images where
the atmosphere is induced into vortices
after passing around islands. The induced
cloud patterns show this effect veryclearly. See GEO Q10 page 8 for an
example.
A footnote. If I have my chemistry correct,
I think that for every two molecules ofwater that come out of an aircraft engine
exhaust there is one molecule of carbon
dioxide. The photograph shows visually
how much water vapour aircraft are
putting into the high atmosphere, but if
you divided it by two you could call it
carbon dioxide. I will leave the discussion
at this point because I’m an establishedheretic on the effects of carbon dioxide
emissions. But still: if the photographshowed carbon dioxide instead of water it
would still be an impressive image.

The following text has been prompted by
my own observations and also fromarticles in GEO Quarterly which havecommented on the visibility of contrails
from weather satellites.

instances a contrail may last only a few
seconds. On other days when the weather
and sky look the same there are nocontrails at all.

I live in southwest Surrey, about 30 miles
equidistant from the busy Heathrow andGatwick airports. Of course, this results inmany aircraft movements in the sky,which I can see from my house andgarden. Although I can see and hear many
aircraft, fortunately they are seldom low
enough to be a nuisance. After take-off, I
guess 30 miles gives the aircraft time toclimb high enough for the noise at groundlevel not to be too distracting.

What I do not understand is the variationin the occurrence and persistence ofcontrails. At cruising altitude aircraft arelikely to be somewhere between 35 and 40
thousand feet. At this altitude thepressure is about one third of sea levelpressure and the temperature somewhere
between -40 and –60°C. But what I don’t
understand is the variation in the criticalfactors which control whether or not acontrail is left behind a high flying
aircraft.

However, as well as aircraft using the
local airports, there are many aircraft intransit over this area. I expect these are
European, transatlantic and other longdistance flights being directed andregulated by London air-traffic control.

Could somebody please write to theeditor with an explanation of thiseffect. Are there diurnal and seasonal
factors, or is it just controlled byweather patterns and water vapour inthe atmosphere at these altitudes.

The point of the above comments is thatsometimes the high flying aircraft arealmost transparent to me on the groundunless I get sun glint from the aircraft: atother times they are very conspicuous
because of the contrails they leave behind.

I understand temperature and pressure
phase diagrams and triple points, but they
do not offer me an explanation of the
dynamics of what must be occurring.
Efficiently burning a hydrocarbon fuel in
air will generate large quantities of carbon
dioxide and water vapour. My phase
diagrams tell me that contrails are not due
to carbon dioxide. Although thetemperature is very low so is the pressure,hence carbon dioxide will be a gas underthese conditions; large quantities perhaps
but not visible to my eyes. So the contrails

The photograph shows the sky above myhouse, looking north, approximately midway between Heathrow and Gatwick inJune 2006, and shows contrails criscrossing the sky. Sometimes I note thesetrails last for over an hour. In other8

www.geo-web.org.uk

Mike Stevens (G4CFZ) recently sent us
this image: Mike wrote:“I thought I would send you this picture. I
know its only a bit of fun, but it all helps thehobby along.
“Its my APT Antenna taken in the lateafternoon. As we are bird lovers we feedthem in the garden and they usuallycongregate on my antenna. This is themost I have seen so far this season.”

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

John Tellick
Finally, after numerous nail-biting delays
and disappointments, MetOp-2 roared
into the night sky above Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kasakhstan at 16:28 UT
atop a Soyuz2-Fregat launcher.
The launch, originally scheduled forJuly 17, was aborted during the final
countdown owing to software problems
with the rocket and a re-scheduled
launch the next day was also aborted
owing to ‘automated check-out routines
unable to deal with the partially-fuelledlauncher configuration, which had
resulted from investigations into theprevious abort.’ A third launch attempton the 19th also proved fruitless when the
ground system stopped the clock owing tooperator error.

The clock in the ESOC control room
showed ‘000:00:01 Hold’. The reason was aminor ground segment problem andlaunch was re-scheduled for the sametime the following day. Unfortunately,high upper atmosphere winds prevented
it taking place. But, after many
disappointments, the October 19 launchwent ahead on time and without a hitch.

MetOp is a large satellite, the size of adouble-decker bus, and at 4093 kilogramsis the second largest polar orbiter built in
Europe. The largest, Envisat, on which
MetOp is based weighed in at slightly
over 8 tonnes.

MetOp on the launch pad awaiting take-off

The EPS ground station, Svalbard, Norway

Credit: Kurt Büchler, ESA© 2006 EUMETSATThe Svalbard ground station picked up
telemetry data from the satellite during
its first orbit shortly after leaving
Baikonur and reported that basic
systems looked good.

I’m sure we are all eagerly looking
forward to seeing the new high-resolution
data from MetOp, but perhaps not the
problem of handling such a vast amountof data.

The satellite was under the control of the
ESA Space Operations Centre (ESOC) till
Sunday October 22, during which period
the solar panels were deployed andsystems checking and various antenna
deployments began.

Congratulation to ESA, EADS-Astrium,
Starsem, CNES, NOAA, ESOC and
EUMETSAT, who have combined todesign, construct and orbit MetOp. At
last Europe has placed its own advanced
polar orbiting meteorological satellite inorbit. Together with the advanced
European MSG geostationary satellites,
EUMETSAT has made Europe one of theworld leaders in the dissemination ofadvanced high resolution meteorologicaldata.

By this time, the Soyuz rocket had
exceeded its ‘fuelled time on the ground’
and had to be returned to ‘the factory’ forrefurbishment. Its cargo, MetOp, had to
be transported back to the integration
facility to be released from its fairing toundergo checks, testing and readying fora future launch.

As MetOp is a highly complex satellitewith many new and different sensors
onboard, commissioning is going to takesome time. A new ground facility has
been built in Svalbard to receive MetOp
data and this also requires validation
with live data. Svalbard is a particularly
important receiving station since, being
so close to the North Pole, it receives partof every pass polar orbiting satellites
make. Svalbard will also be used for
downlinking stored global data. And as
EUMETCast users are already aware,
Svalbard has been receiving and relaying
HRPT data from NOAA-17 and NOAA-18
for some months now.

Baikonur is a very busy launch facility,
also serving the ISS and several ISS
supply launches, as well as other satellite
launches, were planned before the end of
the year—so would it be possible to slot
in the delayed MetOp launch?
Well, they did, and everything was goingwell until the integrated assembly oflauncher and satellite was ‘dropped’ a
few centimetres whilst it was beingtransported (horizontally) by rail to thelaunch facility. This caused a further
short delay whilst everything waschecked and verified.

MetOp on its way to the Launch Pad
Credit: ESA

The new launch was finally scheduled for
16:28 GMT on October 17 but with just a
few seconds remaining before ignition, it
was ‘suspended.’

MetOp-A, as the satellite is now known,
is now under the control of EUMETSAT
who are beginning several months ofcommissioning, sensor verification andcalibration.
www.geo-web.org.uk

9

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

Peter Wakelin
GSLV Failure Investigation Completed
As reported in the last issue (page 43), an Indian GSLV rocket
carrying the Insat-4C communications satellite failed shortly
after launch. The Failure Analysis Committee (FAC) concluded
that the cause of the failure was the loss of thrust in one of thefour strap-on liquid-fuelled motors as a consequence of a pressure
regulator failure just five seconds after ignition. A manufacturing
error is believed to have permitted an excessive propellant flowwhich led to intolerable temperatures in the gas generator.
The FAC reported that, although the GSLV design is robust, amuch stricter control on fabrication, inspection and acceptanceprocedures is needed. A long-duration hot test on one in every 20
engines built is also recommended to ensure that the production
process is under control.
Immediate implementation of the FAC’s recommendations
ensures that the GSLV programme will soon be back on track andInsat-3D, a dedicated meteorological mission, should still go up in2007 as planned.
Another Debris Hazard
Residual propellant in Japan’s H-2A second stage rocket, which
launched the ALOS remote-sensing satellite in January, 2006,
was the likely cause of an explosion that blew the rocket to pieces.
US sensors have detected more than 20 fragments but there will
inevitably also be many smaller pieces, each capable ofdestroying a satellite in the orbits used by many Earth-observing
spacecraft.

This is the first high-resolution image of the Red Planet returned from NASA’s
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, on Sept. 29, 2006. The High Resolution Imaging
Science Experiment (HiRISE) acquired this image from an altitude of 280 km at
a resolution of 30 centimeters per pixel. The view shows a small portion of thefloor of Ius Chasma, a branch of the giant Valles Marineris system of canyons
and resolves rocks as small as 90 centimeters in diameter. At bottom right area few dunes or ridges of windblown sand. If you were standing on this part ofMars, you would just barely be visible in this image.
Image: NASA/JPL

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Reaches Science Orbit
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) arrived at the Red
Planet on March 10, 2006 and its engine fired to reduce its speed
just enough to enable the spacecraft to enter a Mars orbit varying
between 425 and 43,000 kilometres above the surface. To
conserve valuable fuel, aerobraking was then used to reduce theorbit. A small adjustment brought the lowest point down to just
105 km where, on every orbit, energy would be lost to
atmospheric friction. After more than 6 months, the planned
orbit has been achieved with very little further expenditure offuel.

This image shows an unnamed crater in the Terra Sirenum region of Mars. An
enhanced color view of gullies in the crater wall, taken by the High Resolution
Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA’s Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter, appears on the inside front cover of this issue.

MRO images the rover Opportunity.
This image covers an area approximately 200 x 400 metres.
Credit: NASA/JPL

Some magnificent imagery has already been returned and plentyof science data should be streaming back to Earth for a long time
to come. The resolution of the High Resolution Imaging Science
Experiment (HiRISE) camera on MRO is about 80 cm from analtitude of 250 km, enabling it to easily spot the rover

10

The region receives very little sunlight during the southern Mars winter, when
the image was taken (early October). The bluish areas consist of frost, which,at the latitude of this image (-39°), is most likely composed of water because
the temperature is not low enough for carbon dioxide condensation. The
reddish regions are locations where frost has been removed, most likely by
sublimation. The dark, unfrosted regions represent the most recent activity inthe gullies and are possibly a result of seasonal melting.
Image: NASA/JPL

Opportunity which has been roaming the surface of Mars for two
years. More information and useful links can be found at
http://www.nasa.gov/mro and http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu

www.geo-web.org.uk

December 2006

Group for Earth Observation

Japanese Spy Satellite Launched
Japan’s first pair of Information Gathering Satellites (IGS) was
launched in March, 2003 and the second pair was destroyed in alaunch failure later that year. The pair consists of one radar andone optical spacecraft in orbits precisely controlled by frequent
small manoeuvres.
A new optical satellite was launched on September 11 and its
radar companion will follow later. The reason for the separate
launches is unclear but speculation that the dubious reliability of
the H-2A launch vehicle prompted the decision not to risk two
spacecraft in one launch may not be correct.
The US authorities acceded to Japan’s request not to makeorbital data on these satellites public but hobbyist visualobservers soon found them and the latest one is in a 488 km nearcircular sun-synchronous orbit.
MetOp Successfully Launched
After several delays, MetOp-2 was eventually launched on
October 19 from Baikonur on the first orbital flight of the newStarsem Soyuz-2-1A. This version made a sub-orbital test flightin November, 2004 without a Fregat upper stage. Although new,the Soyuz-2-1A still resembles the fifty-year-old R7 ballistic
missile from which it has evolved. The original plan was tolaunch MetOp on an Ariane 5 vehicle but a suitable co-passenger
destined for a similar orbit could not be found and a lone MetOp
launch on the powerful Ariane could not be justified. Also, there
were early concerns about possible vibration damage to MetOp on
the Ariane but these have been overcome and it could be used for
future MetOp launches.

GEO Quarterly No 12

Sounder (HIRS) and the Advanced Microwave Sounder Unit
(AMSU) are already in use on the NOAA polar-orbiting satellites
but others are either instruments developed for MetOp or
improved versions of instruments flown on other spacecraft suchas GOME-2, an improved version of the Global Ozone Measuring
Experiment flown on ERS-2. The Advanced Scatterometer,
ASCAT, is an upgraded version of that flown on both ERS-1 and
ERS-2.
The Global navigation satellite system Receiver for AtmosphericSounding (GRAS) is a new instrument utilising transmissions
from the GPS constellation of satellites to derive atmospherictemperature and humidity profiles. Another new instrument is
the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI), a
major element of the MetOp mission. It operates in over 8,000
spectral channels to provide temperature and humidity profiles
to an unprecedented accuracy. It can also accurately measurequantities of trace gases in the atmosphere such as methane.
Following the successful launch, the Satellite In-Orbit
Verification (SIOV) campaign is under way. As SIOV times vary
for the different instruments, they will be progressively released
to the next phase for system validation and calibration. It will beseveral months before MetOp A is fully operational.

Liftoff occurred at 1628UT. The Soyuz stages completed theirtasks within 9 minutes and fell back to Earth leaving the Fregat
to fire five seconds after separation to increase its speed by
1290 m/s enabling it to coast up to about 830 km. The Fregat thenburned another 314 kg of fuel increasing its speed by a further
182 m/s to circularise the orbit. Having done its job, Fregat
separated from the 4,093 kg MetOp A at 17:37 and, 38 minutes
later, used its remaining fuel to reduce speed and fall towards the
Pacific Ocean. To avoid confusion, orbiting MetOp satellites will
be designated in launch order, A, B and C.

MetOp takes to the night sky
Credit: ESA

MetOp was born out of POEM, the European Space Agency’s
Polar Orbit Environmental Mission, which got under way in thelate 1980s and was based on a large platform carrying both Earthobservation instruments and an operational meteorologicalpackage. In 1992 it was decided to spread the instruments across
two platforms: Envisat, for Earth observation and a dedicated
MetOp for the operational meteorological instruments.
MetOp’s payload module carries 13 instruments as well as
housing the spacecraft’s avionics. The instruments are provided
by NOAA, ESA, EUMETSAT and the French space agency,
CNES. Some instruments, such as the Advanced Very High
Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), the High Resolution Infrared

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
flying onboard NOAA’s Aqua satellite imaged this dust storm derived
from glacial sediments blowing off the Alaskan coast on November
1, 2006. The dust appears as a translucent plume, creating swirls
over the ocean that vaguely mimic the shapes of nearby clouds.
Dust storms usually call to mind visions of hot, sandy deserts but
they can also form at high latitudes. Alaskan glaciers grind theunderlying rock into fine silt and winds blowing down the mountainvalleys often carry this fine material with them. Because they blow
primarily downward, these winds can actually change direction andfollow the mountain valleys in which they travel. A close look at theimage above shows the dust storm turning corners, following the
Copper River Valley on its way to the sea.
Image: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center

www.geo-web.org.uk

11

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

Clive Finnis
The R2FX receiver has proved to be a very
popular item and many have been sold by
the GEO Shop. Its popularity is wellunderstood—it is very reasonably priced
yet bristles with advanced features, someunique amongst the available APT
receivers, such as its ‘antenna diversity’function.
What makes the R2FX my receiver ofchoice is the ability to control it from a PC;
thus I can leave it running, go to work, andwhen I return in the evening all the passes
have been safely stored to my hard disk
ready to be viewed at my leisure. During
the day, the PC will have automaticallyswitched the R2FX to the correct frequency
for each satellite pass.
Setting up PC Control
Setting up the computer control is very
simple. If you have purchased the R2FX
accessories pack from the GEO Shop, youwill have all the leads you require: if not,you will need a 9 pin to 9 pin PC serial
cable, available from most UK PC stores,
such as PC World or Maplins.
Unfortunately, there are several varieties of
PC serial cable, all wired slightly differently.
You will need a cable with a 9-pin D-typeconnector plug at one end and a 9-pin
D-type connector socket at the other end.
This must be wired ‘one to one’( i.e. pin-1
on the plug is wired to pin-1 on the socket,
pin-2 to pin-2 ... pin-9 to pin-9). The metalshield around the D-type connectors should
also be connected to each other, forscreening purposes.

Having installed WXtrack and set it up(entered your geographical location,
selected the satellites you would like to
track and updated the Kepler elements)
then it is time to connect the R2FX.
Connecting up the R2FX
The plug end of your serial cable connects
to the D-socket on the rear panel of yourR2FX (there is only one socket and thecable will only connect one way round, so
no problems here). The other end of thecable connects to your PC serial port
(sometimes known as a com orcommunications port). The only possible
hiccup here is that some PC’s require a
25-pin D-type connector rather than the
9-pin one fitted on the cable. Moulded 25
pin to 9-pin converters are available, again
from Maplins, PC World, Tandy(Radioshack) etc.

Without disturbing the R2FX or the cable,
click ‘Quit’ to exit the R2FX-Config program(unless you wish to change any of theparameters to suit your personal choice.
Please refer to the R2FX manual if you
need to do this) and run WXtrack.

To ensure that both the R2FX and the PC
can communicate, I would recommend
running the R2FX-Config.exe program,which can be found on the CD suppliedwith the R2FX.
Select the number of the serial/com port onyour PC (usually COM 1 or COM 2, unless
you are using a USB to serial converter(more of which later), then click the ‘Load’
button (figure 1). All being well, the R2FX
will report back its settings (figure 2).

Figure 1 (upper) and Figure 2

The software to control the R2FX is built into Craig Anderson’s WxtoImg software. You
can download the freeware version fromwww.wxtoming.com

but I would like to describe the new R2FX
control feature in the latest release of David
Taylor’s excellent satellite tracking program
WXtrack, which you can download fromwww.satsignal.eu

David has generously included the R2FX
control functions in the free download
version but I would urge everyone who
uses the program to register for the single
user/educational licence at £24.50. Onceyou have used this program you will realise
what excellent value this is, and registration
enables David to expend time and effort on
supporting and enhancing the program.
David is a real ambassador of our hobby
and deserves our support.

12

Figure 3 - The WXtrack ‘Tracker Options’ panel

www.geo-web.org.uk

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

WXtrack
To set up WXtrack for control of the R2FX
you need to click on the ‘Tracker’ tab at the
top of the screen and select ‘Options’. The
WXtrack ‘Tracker Options’ panel opens.
Click on ‘R2FX channel select’ as shown infigure 3 then click on the ‘Port Setup’ tabhalf-way down the window. Here, ensurethat the COM port number is correct; i.e.
the same as the one that you used in
R2FX–Config.exe above.
Click ‘OK’ to exit from the Tracker Options
window. It is recommended that you now
exit WXtrack then restart the program inorder to load the new settings correctly. All
being well you will see ‘R2FX’ in the centre
box at the bottom of the ‘World Map’ page.
WXtrack will send a ‘change frequency’command to the R2FX one minute before
the next satellite (and all subsequent
satellites) comes into range. The R2FX
shows that it has received this commandby turning off all six front panel ‘channel’LEDs, as shown in figure 4.

Figure 4 - The R2FX Receiver

Antenna Diversity
This useful feature, which allows you toswitch between twin antennas or a single
antenna, is now controlled throughsoftware, unlike the older model reviewed
in GEO Quarterly No 7.
USB Problem
One GEO member contacted me recently
to say that he could not enable the antenna
diversity function using R2FX-config.exe
because he did not have the necessary‘tick box’ showing on screen. I assumed
that he had somehow received an old or
defective version of the software and sent
him the latest version, but the problem
persisted. After various e-mails it transpiredthat as his PC did not have a serial port; hewas using a USB-to-serial converter tocontrol the R2FX. I purchased one from mylocal PC World and, sure enough,encountered exactly the problem he had
described (figure 5). Clearly this variety ofUSB-to-serial converter was only partly
working—unfortunately only too common aproblem with cheap ‘Far Eastern’electronics, I have found (see figure) 6.
I then set about trying to find a reliable
solution, and having heard good reports of
FTDI chips ‘through the trade’, purchased
one of their converters for £10.00.

Figure 5 - Diversity check-box is absent when using a ‘cheap’ USB to serial convertor

At least it is made in Scotland, not Taiwan!
It worked perfectly! I purchased the ’bare’system UC232R-10-NE ‘chip’(figure 7), but
for an additional 50p FTDI have one with astylish white case.
So the motto is: cheap isn’t always best.
If there is sufficient demand the GEO Shop
will stock these converters. Otherwise
please see the ‘Chip Shop’ at:www.ftdichip.com.

Figure 6 - A ‘cheap-and-nasty’ USB converter

www.geo-web.org.uk

Figure 7 - A full-function USB converter

13

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

Les Hamilton
Last January, I received a query concerning a phenomenon thatappears uniquely in NOAA-17 channel-A images during thedepths of winter. As we approach the end of yet another year it isanticipated that this will once more manifest itself, so now is agood time to explain what is happening.
Whilst passing over the Arctic, where there is insufficient
illumination in the visible spectrum at this time of the year for
imaging in visible light, NOAA-17 transmits channel-3B infrared
images (centred on 3.75 µm). But once the craft encounters better
illuminated terrain, imaging automatically switches to channel-2(0.86 µm) to provide visible-light imagery. That, at any rate, isthe theory, and is precisely what occurred with previous NOAA
satellites that had implemented this frequency changeover.
In practice, the NOAA-17 frequently fails to make a sharptransition between the two channels: for as long as half a minute,a band of brighter imagery may be transmitted before the final
switch to channel-2 is made. What, I was asked, was the reason
for this anomalous effect which appears in so many NOAA-17
passes for several weeks during both December and January?
To understand what is happening here it is necessary first todelve into the operation of the AVHRR/2 (Advanced Very High
Resolution Radiometer) imaging instrument flown aboard
earlier NOAA satellites. This was originally developed to sense
the Earth in five radiation bands, as detailed in Table I below.

Frequency range(µm)

Channel1

0.58-

0.68 visible

2

0.725

-

1.00 visible/near infrared

3

3.55

-

3.93 mid infrared

4

10.50

-

11.50 far infrared

5

11.40

-

12.40 far infrared

Table I - Frequencies in the AVHRR/2 (pre-NOAA-15)

All five channels were transmitted simultaneously, 24 hours perday, within the HRPT data stream but only two of them could
be provided in the APT transmission. As a compromise, toprevent the transmission of completely blank frames during
night-time (which does in fact occur for NOAA 12 andNOAA 18), channel-3 was activated during the hours ofdarkness. Throughout most of the year this switch-over occurs
when NOAA 17 is out of radio range.

ChannelFrequency range(µm)

Typical use

1

0.58

-

0.68 Daytime cloud and surface mapping

2

0.725

-

1.00 Daytime detection of land/water boundaries

3A

1.58

-

1.64 Daytime detection of snow and ice

3B

3.55

-

3.93 Fire detection; night time cloud detection

4

10.30

-

11.30 Cloud mapping and sea-surface temperatures

5

11.50

-

12.50 Sea surface temperatures

Table II - AVHRR/3 frequencies (NOAA-15 to the present day)14

Figure 1 - Section from a NOAA-17 morning December visible image

The 6th Channel
Starting with NOAA-15, the improved
AVHRR/3 radiometer was flown on the
NOAA satellites. Amongst otherimprovements this instrument was now
capable of imaging in six channels. The
additional near-infrared frequency was given
the assignation channel 3A while the ‘old’
channel-3 became channel-3B. Table II lists
the six frequencies and their principal uses.
Channel Identification
A glance at figure 1 illustrates the situation
when the NOAA-17 channel-A is switched.
There are clearly three distinctly different
image characteristics present: it appears
very much as though we are viewing
contributions from not two but threedifferent AVHRR channels. So the first thing
we require to do is identify which channels
are operating.
Everyone who receives APT from the NOAA
satellites will be familiar with thecalibration bands flanking each image(figure 2; see also page 30). The 16 shadedboxes—which are repeated between eachpair of minute markers—include, amongst
other information, an 8-strip greyscale. This
greyscale is readily identifiable; its strips
being numbered 1 to 8 in order of increasing
modulation index (brightness). Strip 9 isalways black (zero modulation) and is a
useful marker. The final strip (16) is the allimportant Channel ID Wedge (arrowed at
the foot of figure 2).

www.geo-web.org.uk

Figure 2
NOAA channel-2
greyscaleDecember 2006

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 12

Nigel Evans reminisces on his time as
GEO Membership Secretary
As Francis Bell has mentioned I intend to
stand down as Membership Secretary at
the end of 2007. My work takes me toFrance every day, and my other hobbies
which include playing keyboard in a local
rock band and an active role in the local
amateur radio community in Doverleaves me less and less time available for
GEO, let alone family.
Figure 3 - NOAA APT edge calibration bands compared

The channel currently being transmitted in
the APT frame is readily determined byreference to this ID wedge. If the ID wedge
has the same shade of grey as strip 2 on thegreyscale, channel-2 is active; if it has thesame shade as strip 4 then channel-4 isactive. Figure 2 shows two minutes worth ofedge calibration band for channel-2. The best
way to compare these strips is by importing
an APT image into a paint program anddetermining the 8-bit greyscale code of each
strip using its ‘colour picker’ tool.
Returning to figure 1 it is now readily
apparent, in the region where the image
switching takes place, that three different
greyscale values occupy successive
Channel ID Wedge strips (arrowed).
Initially, when NOAA-17 first came within
reception range, it was transmitting
channel-3B, the overnight mid-infrared.
Shortly before the switch-over to visible
channel-2 imaging at the terminator, thechannel-3 transmission itself switched from
-3B to channel-3A, a near infrared frequency
used for daytime discrimination of snow, ice
and cloud features. This channel is notnormally transmitted via APT—what we areseeing here is just a tiny glimpse of it.
However, one mystery remains. During
channel-3A’s brief appearance, the shade in
the ID wedge matched that of step-6 on thegreyscale! When the radiometer was
upgraded to the AVHRR/3, a sixth channel
was added. Since the first five steps in thegreyscale wedge were already allocated toexisting channels, the new channel wastherefore matched with step-6. Because theoriginal channel-3 and the ‘new’ channel-6
time-share the channel-3 AVHRR stream,
they were both renamed, the ‘old’ version tochannel-3B and the ‘new’ channel-6
becoming channel-3A. Figure 3 shows theappearance of the calibration margins forchannels-2, -3B and -4 as well as the brief
channel-3A/2 transition. In all cases the ID
wedge rectangles are arrowed while thenumbers for the calibration rectangles are
outlined. Notice how strip 15, the ‘Back scan’value, varies as transmission switches fromone frequency to another.

Why Only NOAA-17?

At present there are four NOAA satellites
actively transmitting APT imagery, yet
NOAA 17 is the only one where this effectis apparent. To understand why, we needto consider the use made of thechannel-3A frequency.
Although all current satellites except
NOAA-12 have the capability of switching
between channels 3A and 3B (in their
HRPT transmissions) as the satellite
moves from darkness into daylight,
NOAA-17 is the only one that currently
does so. This stems from a decision by
NESDIS (NOAA’s National
Environmental Satellite, Data andInformation Service) in May 2003 torationalise the AVHRR Channel 3A/3B
switching scheme. It was determined thatchannel-3A data was required from only
one satellite, once per day. So although all
satellites since NOAA-15 havechannel-3A/B switching capability,
NOAA-17 is currently the (sole)designated satellite which actuallyswitches channels in this manner, withchannel-3A active during daylight andchannel-3B during the hours of darkness.

I am proud to have been associated withthe launch of GEO. In the autumn of2003 many of us had recently left RIG,
and recognised a need for a new group,
run by a more corporate rather than acommittee/quasi political led
management system.
We met in West London and over a few
hours firmed up the format, which is
GEO today. This included a management
team, friendly approach, large A4 format
full colour magazine, an official Internet
Forum and a need to form links abroad,especially with our friends in Europe.
The offer of a free colour issue financed
by some of the management teams’ own
funds quickly secured our place in the
WX community. Sterling efforts by the
GEO-Shop team cross-subsidise to keep
our subscription costs down. I will alsomention the work carried out by our
editor Les Hamilton who also wishes totake a break this year. He has invested
many hours to guarantee that GEO
provides the best Weather Satellite
periodical available, and which is read all
around the globe by amateurs andprofessionals.

The AVHRR/3 instrument is preprogrammed to make its channel 3B to 3A
switch close to the expected time that
NOAA-17 crosses the terminator (the line
separating darkness from daylight on the
Earth’s surface).

I would like to mention the special links
we have forged with the Dutch Group
Werkgroep Kunstmanen. Many of theirmembers have become personal friends
and have welcomed us into their homes
and many club events.

Increasing ground illumination below thesatellite automatically triggers thechannel-3 to channel-2 switch in the APTdata stream once illumination is sufficientfor imaging.

I have seen the GEO membership swell
to over 500 subscribers, and this looks
likely to remain steady as long as
everyone remembers to renew.

In reality, the times of these two events
often differ by several seconds, allowing
channel-3A to appear briefly in the APTdata stream before channel-2 is active.
If you haven’t observed this effect before,
look out for it during December andJanuary. Indeed, this year I have alreadynoticed the effect as early as November 3.
www.geo-web.org.uk

I shall of course continue to be part of the
GEO management team and offer myhelp whenever possible.
Finally I would like to thank all thesubscribers, the management team fortheir tireless efforts, and those members
who have taken time to contact me
personally with kind words and praise for
GEO.

15

GEO Quarterly No 12

During an 11-day mission during February 2000,
Space Shuttle Endeavour flew the Shuttle Radar
Topography Mission (SRTM), a specially modified
radar system. The outcome was the most complete
high-resolution digital topographic database of
Earth (http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/).
False colour and shading are frequently added to
SRTM images to ease interpretation of features.
This recently released image of the Crater

16

Group for Earth Observation

Highlands along the East African Rift in Tanzania
shows a region where vulcanism, landslides,
erosion and deposition are all very evident.
In this image the lowest elevations are shown ingreen, uplands in brown and the highest elevations
in white. Shading indicates the slope. The verticalrelief has been exaggerated by a factor of two toreveal greater detail. The image is oriented as you
would see it looking from the north toward thesouthwest.

www.geo-web.org.uk

December 2006

The large blue feature at the top of the image is
Lake Eyasi while the smaller one below it occupies
the famed Ngorongoro Crater. The impressive
white-capped upland beneath the crater is the 3,648
meter Mount Loolmalasin with Ela Naibori Crater to
its right. At the very foot of the image two broad
mountains, Kitumbeine (left) and Gelai (right) risefrom the rift lowlands.
Image: NASA/JPL/NGA Shuttle Topography Radar TeamDecember 2006

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 12

J P Silver

E-mail: john@rfic.co.uk
Introduction
A simple APT ground station consists of an antenna (turnstile or
QFHA) and a receiver. To get the best results, the antenna needs
to be mounted as high as possible and away from other objects.
This, however, results in a longer cable run between the antenna
and receiver and, as cable is lossy and hence noisy, that will
seriously degrade the low-noise figure of typical satellite VHF
receivers. The solution is to add gain in front of the loss—at theantenna—but this can lead to other problems. It is unfortunatethat the frequencies around the APT satellite band are populated
by powerful pager transmitters whose transmissions can 'swamp'
the LNA, causing it to operate in a non-linear region that can
result in instability, spurious signals and a loss in gain.
The solution to these problems is to fit a high linearity LNA at theantenna in front of the cable loss. If a suitable high linearity
device is chosen it can provide high gain and low noise while atthe same time maintaining linear operation in the presence of thelarger RF transmissions.
In order to make the design as small as possible chip/surface
mount components have been used and this results in a very
compact PCB with dimensions of 40 by 25 mm.
This article addresses the design of such an LNA, designed to becompact and fairly easy to build, yet high in gain and linearity but
low in noise.

Linearity
Why is high linearity important? Active RF devices areultimately non-linear in operation. When driven with a large
enough RF signal the device will generate undesirable spurious
signals. How much spurious signal is generated by the device isdependant on its linearity.
If an amplifier is driven hard enough its output power will begin
to fall off, resulting in a drop of gain known as gain compression;
this is measured by the 1dB gain compression point parameter.
There are several non-linearity mechanisms that can seriously
degrade the LNA and following receiver: blocking, spurious, andsmall-signal suppression.
Blocking occurs when there is a large close-to-band signal that
effectively swamps everything else, resulting in a ‘silent’ carrier(in a typical NBFM receiver). This is most noticeable with pager
transmitters where there can be blocking and/or very strong
modulation.
Spurious will occur when two (or more) strong out-of-band
carriers mix in the compressed LNA, forming in-band side-bands
which could interfere with the received satellite signal.
The third result of non-linearity is small signal suppression. Witha pager transmitter being considerably stronger than the

Figure1 - The Circuit Diagram

www.geo-web.org.uk

17

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

satellite transmission it may well cause the LNA to go into gain
compression, with the result that the much weaker satellite
signal will be 'suppressed', making it weaker still. The only way
around these problems is to use a very linear but low-noise device
in the LNA design and add some filtering after the LNA stage.

December 2006

the SMT components, followed by the MC108 inductors and theirscreening cans. A suggested sequence for fitting the SMT
components is to start with the resistors, followed by thecapacitors and inductors, with the active devices last.

Which RF Device?
Numerous other LNA designs have used dual-gate MOSFETs
such as the GaAs NE25139 and Silicon BF988 and, althoughthese devices are capable of low noise (~1 dB), they have terrible
linearity. An early design of mine (using a correctly biased
BF988) yielded a 1 dB compression point of ~+8.5 dBm, with theresulting IM3 intercept point at ~18 dBm.
Therefore, manufacturers’ data sheets were searched for better
RF handling devices and several new GaAs MMICs, namely the
MGA-53543 and the MGA-62563, were found from Avago
Technologies (formerly Agilent):
http://www.avagotech.com

Both devices have similar noise figure specifications but the IM3
linearity of the MGA-53543 is quoted at 39 dBm. This is some
20 dB better than the dual-gate MOSFET. The only snag withthis device is that it is conditionally stable below 500 MHz. The
MGA-62563 is unconditionally stable at low frequencies but, due
to the internal feedback network, has a lower IM3 of 35 dBm. To
ensure stability and ease of design and construction the
MGA-62563 was chosen for the LNA design.

Figure 2 -Circuit Design
The circuit of the LNA is shown in figure 1. The device requires abias current of ~60 mA at 3 V to give the best linearity
performance but still maintains a creditable noise figure of under
one decibel (1 dB). The main circuit is taken from the data sheet
but a 5 V regulator is used to reduce the 12 V supply (from theweather satellite receiver, via the co-axial antenna downlead) toa more suitable level. The voltage regulator also provides some
protection from power supply spikes and reduces low frequency
noise. A drop-down resistor is used to set the bias to the device atthe specified 3 V (assuming Ibias = 60 mA set by R5 at 220 ohm).
The output of the LNA is fed to a 50 ohm band-pass filter (ofstandard design) comprising three lightly coupled resonators
using miniature Toko MC108 inductors. To isolate these
inductors and ensure that the filter coupling is set with thecoupling capacitors only, these inductors are screened.

Simulation of the LNA showing a plot of minimum noise
figure (lower plot) and the simulated circuit noise figure(upper). The predicted noise figure of the LNA is 0.92 dB.

The circuit (figure 1) was simulated to obtain the predicted noise
figure and gain performance, with the resulting plots shown infigure 2 and figure 3. Following optimisation of the filter, several
prototypes were constructed. The results of one of these areshown in Table 2 (below).
Construction
A small single-sided PCB (40 x 25 mm) was designed for the
LNA, so that it could be sited inside the antenna at the start ofthe co-axial feed. Surface-mount components were used tominiaturise the PCB and also to ensure that the RF performance
between different builds was very similar. Holes were drilled into
the PCB to allow the miniature MC108s (and their associatedscreening cans) to be mounted on the non-copper side. The trackside view of the PCB is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 3 -Gain simulation results for the LNA showing
about 16 dB rejection at 144 MHz.

The list of components used is shown in Table 1. The box listed isonly a suggestion; some people may want to fit the LNA directly
into the antenna at the start of the feed. Many of the components,
including the active devices and SMT components, can beobtained from Farnell:
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/home/homepage.jsp

The Toko coils and screens were obtained from JAB Electronic
Components
http://www.jabdog.com/index.htm

The first thing to do when the PCB is etched and drilled is to fit

18

www.geo-web.org.uk

Figure 4 - The track-side view of the PCB

December 2006

Group for Earth Observation

Ident

Value

Type/Comment

R1

33R

SMT 0805 chip resistor

R2

220R

SMT 0805 chip resistor

C 1, C 2

100 pF

SMT 0805 chip capacitor

C3

10 nF

SMT 0805 chip capacitor

C4

1 µF

SMT TANT 10V

C 5, C 6

1 nF

SMT 0805 chip capacitor

C 7, C 13

15 pF

SMT 0805 chip capacitor

C 8, C 12

82 pF

SMT 0805 chip capacitor

GEO Quarterly No 12

Figure 6 -This photograph shows the completed LNA PCB inside a
diecast box. 4-hole flanged BNC connectors are fitted ateach end of the box.

The LNA was connected to the two BNC connectors using shortlengths of miniature 50 ohm screened cable. On one prototype
there were some stability problems (as the gain was particularlyhigh on this unit) when the lid was fitted. This was cured bygluing a piece of electrically conductive foam to the underside of
the box lid.

Figure 7 -The component side of the prototype PCB with the major
components labelled.

Figure 5 shows the position of the SMT components on thisdouble-sided PCB. Note that twelve 0.6 mm diameter holes must
be drilled through the PCB to allow mounting of the MC108
inductors and their associated screening cans.

inductors are attached to the PCB through 2.5 mm holes, bymeans of their securing pegs.

C 10

12 pF

SMT 0805 chip capacitor

C9, C110.5 pF

SMT 0805 chip capacitor

L1

150 nH

SMT 0805 chip inductor

L2,L3, L40.105 µH

MC108 Green + Screening Can

L5

1µH

SMT 0805 chip inductor

IC1

LM7805

SO-8 5V voltage regulator
Farnell code 9489436

IC2

MGA-62563 SMT LNA - Farnell code 7820453

Connectors 2 off BNC

Screw BNC bulkhead

B oxSize 89 x 35 x 30 Farnell code 278889

See Text

Table 3-1 Components list for the FM LNA.

The box used in the prototype was a small 'Eddystone' type diecast box (Farnell 278889 flanged or 301516 unflanged) with ascrew- type BNC chassis socket fitted at opposite ends of the box.

TestingWith the LNA connected to the weather satellite receiver
downlead and being supplied with +12 V, the initial LNA tests
consist of checking that the output of the voltage regulator is+5 V while that at L1 was approximately 3 V. If these values arecorrect, then it shows that the LNA is correctly biased. The next
part of alignment required the passage of a polar satellite withhigh elevation. When the satellite is high in the sky, turn theferrite core of each MFC108 inductor in turn to gradually
increase the received signal to a maximum.
Note: use a special tool to adjust the ferrite cores, otherwise they
will break.

Figure 5 - Positioning of components on the PCB

A photograph of the completed LNA and circuit board is shown infigure 6, showing the completed LNA PCB inside a suitable diecast box. 4-hole flanged BNC connectors are fitted at each end of
the box. The PCB is normally secured using with two M 2.5
screws.
Figure 7 is a photograph showing the component side of the
prototype PCB with the major components labelled. Note that the

Test Results
The prototype gain and noise
figures were measured between
136 MHz and 144 MHz and arelisted (in dB) in Table 2.

Frequency(MHz )

Gain
(dB)

N.F
(dB)

135

19.03

0.86

136

19.80

0.84

137

19.78

0.80

138

20.12

0.82

The gain response of the LNA
was measured on a network
analyser resulting in the gain
response shown in figure 8. The
rejection at 144 MHz could be
increased by decreasing thevalue of the filter coupling

139

19.9

0.83

140

19.34

0.87

141

16.77

1.00

142

16.5

1.02

143

14.8

1.02

144

12.5

1.07

www.geo-web.org.uk

Table 2

19

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

capacitors C9 and C11 but this led to a decrease in the gain of the
LNA. Figure 8 plots the measured gain frequency response of the
prototype LNA, indicating about 13.5 dB rejection at 144 MHz.
The linearity (two-intermodulation products) was measured andthe intercept point found to be 33 dBm (specification for thedevice at 200 MHz is 35 dBm). This is still significantly higherthat the silicon dual-gate MOSFETs used as the 'gold standard'in weather satellite receivers and preamplifiers.
Conclusion
The LNA described in this article provides low noise figure but
has high linearity and sufficient gain to overcome cable losses onlong antenna feeds. Although SMT components can be somewhat
fiddly to use, they do produce a very compact design that could behoused within in an antenna.
Further design iterations will consider using the even more
linear MGA-53543 device, although this is conditionally stable at
low frequencies requiring a more complicated design to ensure it
will not oscillate.
References
1 Data sheet for MGA-62563 http://www.avagotech.com/assets/downloadDocument.do?id=994
Figure 8 -Measured gain frequency response of the prototype LNA
showing about 13.5 dB rejection at 144 MHz.

APT Recording Level
There was a minor error on the ‘Mixer’
article on page 25 of our previous issue.
The command ‘xwxtoimg.exe’ in the batch
file must appear on a separate line.
Since the article was published, GuiseppeCico came up with an improved procedure
which makes it possible to initialise both
WXtoImg and SatLevel in the same batch
file, thus:
C:Program Files\Mixer\Mixer.exe satellite
start xwxtoimg.exe
C:Program Files\David Taylor\satlevel.exe

The ‘start’ command in line 2 causes the
program to run in a new window, so thebatch file will continue. As before, this batch
file must reside in the WXtoImg folder.
Lightning Monitoring
Ken Barker was good enough to point out aminor but critical error in the address given
in John Heath’s article for the Boltek
lightning display. The correct version is:www.peterboroughvws.info/stormvue.html

with the correction underlined (it waspreviously scrambled as ‘wvs’)
On the same topic, John Say contacted us
to state that he also has a Boltek lightning
detector in operation in Stanhope (Co.
Durham) and a map using Aninoquisi
software is uploaded to his site:
http://www.saysarts.co.uk

20

2 Data sheet for MGA-53543http://www.avagotech.com/assets/downloadDocument.do?id=2604

El Niño Slows Hurricane Season
Against all long-term predictions, dataobtained by NASA’s Jason satellite during
September 2006 indicated that El Niño had
returned to the tropical Pacific Ocean.
Although the occurrence was much lessintense than the last major episode during
1997-1998, there has been a noticeable
reduction in Atlantic tropical storm activity
this summer. Indeed, in the aftermath of2005, which produced a record 28 tropicalstorms and hurricanes, Hurricane Season
2006 seems almost to have been a nonevent with just nine storms, five of themhurricanes and only two of these classed as‘major’.
In truth, figures for this year are almost
identical with the long-term average of 9.6
named storms, 5.9 hurricanes (2.3 major).
But because all this season’s hurricanes
remained well out in the Atlantic, it gave theimpression of lower activity than normal.
This is in fact the first season for five years
that the US coastline has avoided a ‘hit’
from an Atlantic hurricane.
El Niño typically acts to suppress hurricane
activity by increasing the vertical wind shear
over the Caribbean Sea region [1]. Years inwhich an El Nino develops tend to havefewer Atlantic hurricanes.
With the exception of Tropical Storm
Ernesto, which briefly became a Category-1
hurricane over the Caribbean and impacted
Haiti, Cuba and the Florida Keys, no otherwww.geo-web.org.uk

storm made landfall, due to a persistentridgeline of high pressure over the US east
coast: this steered them into the North
Atlantic, well away from the mainland,
although Bermuda experienced strong
winds, heavy rain, and storm surges frommost of them.
The image opposite, acquired by NASA’s
Aqua satellite at 16 :45 UT on
September 18, shows hurricanes Gordon
and Helene which formed in quick
succession in the north Atlantic Ocean
during mid-September. Both storms display
well-defined spirals with tightly woundcentral portions, complete eyewalls aroundtheir storm centres and well-defined cloudfilled eyes. At the time of this image Gordon
had peak sustained winds of 160 kph,
making it a Category-2 storm while Helene
had sustained winds of 185 kph, making it apowerful Category-3 hurricane.
Image: Jesse Allen, MODIS Rapid Response Team.

Reference
1. Hurricane Season 2005 Update, GEOQ 11,
page 26

December 2006

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 12

GEO PIC 1.0 for the RX2
Programmed with the
new channel frequencies
required for NOAA-18.
UK
Continental Europe
Rest of World

-

£7.00
£7.80
£8.40

GEO/Dartcom EPROM v 1.3
This new EPROM forthe Dartcom APT
receiver is available
exclusively from GEO.

Telestar 80 cm dish and Universal
0.6 dB LNB

R2FX APT Weather Satellite ReceiverThis diminutive German-built APT receiver is packed with features and is the ideal
receiver for the newcomer to the hobby. May be affected by pagers on the upper
NOAA frequency of 137.91 MHz.
UK member’s price
UK non-member’s price-(or similar model)
A quality German made aluminium dishand LNB with an AZ/EL mount to fit onto avertical pole. (Wall or patio mounts areavailable from local satellite TV dealers)
UK members price£49.00
UK non-members price£56.00UK
Continental Europe
Rest of World-£10.00£10.75£11.25

Martelec MSR40 EPROM
UK
Continental Europe
Rest of World-£10.00£10.75£11.25£135.00£149.00

Ordering and Shipping

R2FX Accessory Pack
This contains everything required to implement a complete APT receiving system
when used with the R2FX receiver. It comprises:• 137 MHz Turnstile Antenna• UK plug-in power supply• PC audio lead + PC Serial ‘computer control’ lead
• Aerial lead (20 m with fitted connector)• CD of PC shareware starter software• Instructions

few days for items to arrive in Europe

GEO can provide most of the items

and perhaps a few weeks for the Rest ofadvertised (with the exception of GEO

the World.

Quarterly back-issues and CDs) to both
members and non members. However,

Orders should be sent to:

the latter cannot benefit from thediscounted prices available to members.

GEO Shop,
We do not normally ship outside the UK as this receiver should be available
elsewhere more cheaply from the manufacturer. But contact the GEO Shop if you
wish a quote.
UK member’s price - £59.00
UK non-member’s price - £69.00

If you are not a GEO Member?

We will ship by post, so please allow a

44 Disraeli Road
Christchurch BH23 3NB
Dorset, England

Why not join GEO and takeadvantage of the discounted
prices we can offer members.

If you are paying by credit card, you can

Subscription Rates (12 months/4 issues

FAX us your order to:

of GEO Quarterly) are just £18 (UK),+44 (0) 1202 893 323£21 (EU) and £24 (rest of world).

GEO Members’ PRICE LIST
Members Prices
UK
EU RoW

Non Members
UK
EU RoW

135.00- 147.00
59.00
349.00259.00 279.00
37.50
7.00
7.80
8.40
10.00 10.75 11.25
10.00 10.75 11.25

149.00- 161.00
69.00
369.00279.00 299.00
42.50
7.00
7.80
8.40
10.00 10.75 11.25
10.00 10.75 11.25

53.50 55.00
94.50 113.50
49.00
11.00 12.50
21.50 24.50

59.50 61.00
119.50 123.50
56.00
17.50 19.00
24.50 27.50

APT Equipment
TechniSat SkyStar 2 PCI Card
This 'free-to-air' DVB satellite TV and data
receivercard
recommended
by
EUMETSAT must be installed inside yourcomputer. It comes with comprehensive
installation instructions and a CD-ROM ofdriver software (if you do not feel confident
about installing cards inside yourcomputer, we recommend the USB version
above)UK members price- £53.50
UK non-members price- £59.50

TechniSat SatFinder
Antenna Alignment Meter
This sensitive meter is a great help insetting up and aligning the dish for
maximum signal. The meter comes with full
instructions.
UK members price
UK non-member’s price- £21.50- £24.50

R2FX APT Receiver (no PSU)
R2FX Accessory Pack
Vierling Weatherman Complete Kit
Dartcom high quality QFH antenna
Turnstile APT antenna
GEO- PIC 1.0
GEO/Dartcom EPROM v 1.3
Martelec MSR40 EPROM

EUMETCast Equipment
TechniSat SkyStar 2 PCI Card
Technisat Skystar USB box
Telestar 80 cm dish with LNB
Telestar Ku band universal LNB
Technisat Satfinder alignment meter--

MiscellaneousTechniSat SkyStar 2 USB BoxThis external 'free-to-air' DVB satellite TV
and data receiver plugs into a USB port onyour computer and comes complete withpower supply, USB cable and a CD-ROMof driver software.
UK£94.50Continental Europe- £119.50

Telestar Universal Ku-band 0.6 dB
Universal LNB(or similar model)
Digital satellite TV Universal LNB for use
with the SkyStar receivers above or any
DVB satellite TV receiver.
UK members price£11.00Continental Europe£17.50GEO Quarterly Back Issues
3.50
4.20
5.10
(subject to availability)
GEO 2004 CD (PDF back issues)
8.00
8.80
9.30
GEO 2005 CD (PDF back issues)
8.00
8.80
9.30
GEO Membership (4 x GEO Quarterly) 18.00 21.00 24.00

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
18.00 21.00 24.00

All prices are in £ sterling and include postage and packaging

www.geo-web.org.uk

i

NOAA 12137.50 MHz

NOAA 15137.50 MHz

Dec 01 05:57 07:37 15:46 17:26
Dec 02 05:32 07:12 15:22 17:01
Dec 03 05:07 06:47 14:57 16:36
Dec 04 04:43 06:23 16:12 17:53
Dec 05 05:58 07:38 15:47 17:27
Dec 06 05:33 07:13 15:23 17:02
Dec 07 05:09 06:48 14:58 16:37
Dec 08 04:44 06:24 16:13 17:54
Dec 09 05:59 07:39 15:48 17:29
Dec 10 05:34 07:14 15:24 17:03
Dec 11 05:10 06:50 15:00 16:39
Dec 12 04:45 06:25 16:14 17:55
Dec 13 06:00 07:40 15:49 17:30
Dec 14 05:36 07:16 15:25 17:05
Dec 15 05:11 06:51 15:01 16:40
Dec 16 04:46 06:26 14:37 16:15
Dec 17 06:01 07:41 15:50 17:31
Dec 18 05:37 07:17 15:26 17:06
Dec 19 05:12 06:52 15:02 16:41
Dec 20 04:47 06:27 14:38 16:16
Dec 21 06:03 07:43 15:52 17:32
Dec 22 05:38 07:18 15:27 17:07
Dec 23 05:13 06:53 15:03 16:42
Dec 24 04:49 06:28 14:39 16:17
Dec 25 06:04 07:44 15:53 17:33
Dec 26 05:39 07:19 15:28 17:08
Dec 27 05:14 06:54 15:04 16:43
Dec 28 04:50 06:30 14:40 16:18
Dec 29 06:05 07:45 15:54 17:34
Dec 30 05:40 07:20 15:30 17:09
Dec 31 05:16 06:56 15:05 16:44

06:32 08:12 16:21 18:02
06:08 07:48 15:58 17:38
05:45 07:25 15:34 17:14
05:21 07:01 15:11 16:50
04:57 06:37 16:26 18:07
06:13 07:53 16:03 17:43
05:49 07:29 15:39 17:19
05:26 07:06 15:16 16:55
05:02 06:42 16:31 18:12
06:18 07:58 16:07 17:48
05:54 07:34 15:44 17:24
05:30 07:10 15:21 17:00
05:07 06:47 14:57 16:36
06:23 08:03 16:12 17:53
05:59 07:39 15:49 17:29
05:35 07:15 15:25 17:04
05:11 06:51 15:02 16:41
06:28 08:08 16:17 17:58
06:04 07:44 15:53 17:33
05:40 07:20 15:30 17:09
05:16 06:56 15:07 16:45
04:53 06:32 16:22 18:03
06:09 07:49 15:58 17:38
05:45 07:25 15:35 17:14
05:21 07:01 15:11 16:50
04:57 06:37 16:26 18:08
06:13 07:54 16:03 17:43
05:50 07:30 15:39 17:19
05:26 07:06 15:16 16:55
05:02 06:42 16:31 18:13
06:18 07:58 16:08 17:48

10:37 12:17 20:27 22:07 01:58 03:39 11:53 13:34
10:14 11:54 20:05 21:44 01:48 03:29 11:43 13:24
09:51 11:31 19:42 21:21 01:37 03:18 11:33 13:13
11:08 12:48 20:58 22:38 01:27 03:08 11:23 13:03
10:45 12:25 20:35 22:15 01:17 02:58 11:13 12:53
10:22 12:02 20:12 21:52 01:07 02:47 11:03 12:42
09:59 11:39 19:50 21:29 02:37 04:18 12:32 14:14
11:16 12:56 21:06 22:47 02:27 04:08 12:22 14:03
10:53 12:33 20:43 22:23 02:16 03:57 12:12 13:53
10:30 12:10 20:20 22:00 02:06 03:47 12:01 13:42
10:07 11:47 19:57 21:36 01:56 03:37 11:51 13:32
09:44 11:24 21:13 22:55 01:45 03:26 11:41 13:21
11:01 12:41 20:51 22:31 01:35 03:16 11:31 13:11
10:38 12:18 20:28 22:08 01:25 03:06 11:21 13:01
10:15 11:55 20:05 21:44 01:15 02:55 11:11 12:50
09:52 11:32 19:43 21:21 01:04 02:45 11:01 12:40
11:09 12:49 20:58 22:39 02:35 04:16 12:30 14:12
10:46 12:26 20:36 22:16 02:24 04:05 12:19 14:01
10:23 12:03 20:13 21:52 02:14 03:55 12:09 13:51
10:00 11:40 19:50 21:29 02:04 03:45 11:59 13:40
11:16 12:57 21:06 22:47 01:53 03:34 11:49 13:30
10:53 12:34 20:43 22:24 01:43 03:24 11:39 13:19
10:30 12:10 20:21 22:00 01:33 03:14 11:29 13:09
10:07 11:47 19:58 21:37 01:23 03:03 11:19 12:58
09:44 11:24 21:14 22:55 01:12 02:53 11:09 12:48
11:01 12:41 20:51 22:31 02:43 04:24 12:38 14:20
10:38 12:18 20:28 22:08 02:32 04:14 12:27 14:09
10:15 11:55 20:06 21:45 02:22 04:03 12:17 13:59
09:52 11:32 19:43 21:22 02:12 03:53 12:07 13:48
11:09 12:49 20:59 22:40 02:01 03:42 11:57 13:38
10:46 12:26 20:36 22:16 01:51 03:32 11:47 13:27

Feb 01 05:25 07:05 15:14 16:54
Feb 02 05:00 06:40 14:50 16:29
Feb 03 06:15 07:55 16:04 17:45
Feb 04 05:51 07:31 15:40 17:20
Feb 05 05:26 07:06 15:16 16:55
Feb 06 05:01 06:41 14:51 16:30
Feb 07 06:16 07:57 16:05 17:46
Feb 08 05:52 07:32 15:41 17:21
Feb 09 05:27 07:07 15:17 16:56
Feb 10 05:02 06:42 14:53 16:31
Feb 11 06:18 07:58 16:07 17:47
Feb 12 05:53 07:33 15:42 17:22
Feb 13 05:28 07:08 15:18 16:57
Feb 14 05:04 06:43 14:54 16:32
Feb 15 06:19 07:59 16:08 17:49
Feb 16 05:54 07:34 15:43 17:23
Feb 17 05:29 07:09 15:19 16:58
Feb 18 05:05 06:45 14:55 16:34
Feb 19 04:40 06:20 16:09 17:50
Feb 20 05:55 07:35 15:44 17:25
Feb 21 05:31 07:10 15:20 17:00
Feb 22 05:06 06:46 14:56 16:35
Feb 23 04:41 06:21 16:10 17:51
Feb 24 05:56 07:36 15:46 17:26
Feb 25 05:32 07:12 15:21 17:01
Feb 26 05:07 06:47 14:57 16:36
Feb 27 04:42 06:22 16:11 17:52
Feb 28 05:57 07:37 15:47 17:27

05:17 06:57 15:07 16:46 10:08 11:48 19:59 21:38
04:53 06:33 16:22 18:03 09:45 11:25 21:15 22:56
06:09 07:49 15:58 17:39 11:02 12:42 20:52 22:33
05:45 07:25 15:35 17:15 10:39 12:19 20:29 22:09
05:21 07:01 15:12 16:51 10:16 11:56 20:07 21:46
04:58 06:37 16:27 18:08 09:53 11:33 19:44 21:23
06:14 07:54 16:03 17:44 11:10 12:50 21:00 22:40
05:50 07:30 15:40 17:19 10:47 12:27 20:37 22:17
05:26 07:06 15:16 16:55 10:24 12:04 20:14 21:54
05:02 06:42 14:53 16:32 10:01 11:41 19:52 21:30
06:18 07:59 16:08 17:49 11:18 12:58 21:07 22:48
05:55 07:35 15:44 17:24 10:55 12:35 20:45 22:25
05:31 07:11 15:21 17:00 10:32 12:12 20:22 22:01
05:07 06:47 14:58 16:36 10:09 11:49 19:59 21:38
06:23 08:03 16:13 17:53 09:46 11:25 21:15 22:56
05:59 07:40 15:49 17:29 11:02 12:43 20:52 22:33
05:36 07:16 15:26 17:05 10:39 12:19 20:29 22:09
05:12 06:52 15:02 16:41 10:16 11:56 20:07 21:46
06:28 08:08 16:17 17:58 09:53 11:33 19:44 21:23
06:04 07:44 15:54 17:34 11:10 12:50 21:00 22:41
05:40 07:20 15:30 17:10 10:47 12:27 20:37 22:17
05:17 06:57 15:07 16:46 10:24 12:04 20:14 21:54
04:53 06:33 16:22 18:03 10:01 11:41 19:52 21:31
06:09 07:49 15:59 17:39 11:18 12:58 21:07 22:49
05:45 07:25 15:35 17:15 10:55 12:35 20:45 22:25
05:21 07:01 15:12 16:51 10:32 12:12 20:22 22:02
04:58 06:38 16:27 18:08 10:09 11:49 19:59 21:38
06:14 07:54 16:03 17:44 09:46 11:26 21:15 22:56

01:24 03:05 11:20 12:59
01:13 02:54 11:09 12:49
01:03 02:44 04:25 12:39
02:34 04:15 12:28 14:10
02:23 04:04 12:18 14:00
02:13 03:54 12:08 13:49
02:03 03:44 11:58 13:39
01:52 03:33 11:48 13:28
01:42 03:23 11:37 13:18
01:32 03:13 11:27 13:07
01:21 03:02 11:17 12:57
01:11 02:52 11:07 12:47
02:42 04:23 10:57 12:36
02:31 04:12 12:26 14:08
02:21 04:02 12:16 13:57
02:11 03:52 12:06 13:47
02:00 03:41 11:55 13:36
01:50 03:31 11:45 13:26
01:40 03:21 11:35 13:15
01:29 03:10 11:25 13:05
01:19 03:00 11:15 12:55
01:09 02:50 11:05 12:44
02:39 04:20 12:34 14:16
02:29 04:10 12:24 14:06
02:19 04:00 12:14 13:55
02:08 03:49 12:03 13:44
01:58 03:39 11:53 13:34
01:48 03:29 11:43 13:23

Jan 01 04:51 06:31 14:41 16:20
Jan 02 06:06 07:46 15:55 17:36
Jan 03 05:41 07:21 15:31 17:11
Jan 04 05:17 06:57 15:06 16:46
Jan 05 04:52 06:32 14:42 16:21
Jan 06 06:07 07:47 15:56 17:37
Jan 07 05:43 07:23 15:32 17:12
Jan 08 05:18 06:58 15:08 16:47
Jan 09 04:53 06:33 14:43 16:22
Jan 10 06:08 07:48 15:57 17:38
Jan 11 05:44 07:24 15:33 17:13
Jan 12 05:19 06:59 15:09 16:48
Jan 13 04:54 06:34 14:45 16:23
Jan 14 06:10 07:50 15:59 17:39
Jan 15 05:45 07:25 15:34 17:14
Jan 16 05:20 07:00 15:10 16:49
Jan 17 04:56 06:35 14:46 16:24
Jan 18 06:11 07:51 16:00 17:40
Jan 19 05:46 07:26 15:35 17:15
Jan 20 05:21 07:01 15:11 16:50
Jan 21 04:57 06:37 14:47 16:25
Jan 22 06:12 07:52 16:01 17:42
Jan 23 05:47 07:27 15:36 17:16
Jan 24 05:23 07:03 15:12 16:51
Jan 25 04:58 06:38 14:48 16:27
Jan 26 06:13 07:53 16:02 17:43
Jan 27 05:48 07:28 15:38 17:18
Jan 28 05:24 07:04 15:13 16:53
Jan 29 04:59 06:39 14:49 16:28
Jan 30 06:14 07:54 16:03 17:44
Jan 31 05:50 07:30 15:39 17:19

05:54 07:35 15:44 17:24
05:31 07:11 15:21 17:00
05:07 06:47 14:58 16:36
06:23 08:03 16:12 17:53
05:59 07:39 15:49 17:29
05:35 07:15 15:25 17:05
05:12 06:52 15:02 16:41
06:28 08:08 16:17 17:58
06:04 07:44 15:54 17:34
05:40 07:20 15:30 17:10
05:16 06:56 15:07 16:46
04:53 06:33 16:22 18:03
06:09 07:49 15:58 17:39
05:45 07:25 15:35 17:14
05:21 07:01 15:12 16:50
04:58 06:37 16:27 18:08
06:14 07:54 16:03 17:43
05:50 07:30 15:40 17:19
05:26 07:06 15:16 16:55
05:02 06:42 14:53 16:31
06:18 07:59 16:08 17:48
05:55 07:35 15:44 17:24
05:31 07:11 15:21 17:00
05:07 06:47 14:58 16:36
06:23 08:03 16:13 17:53
05:59 07:39 15:49 17:29
05:36 07:16 15:26 17:05
05:12 06:52 15:02 16:41
06:28 08:08 16:17 17:58
06:04 07:44 15:54 17:34
05:40 07:20 15:30 17:10

10:23 12:03 20:13 21:53 01:41 03:22 11:37 13:17
10:00 11:40 19:51 21:30 01:31 03:11 11:26 13:06
11:17 12:57 21:07 22:48 01:20 03:01 11:16 12:56
10:54 12:34 20:44 22:24 01:10 02:51 11:06 12:46
10:31 12:11 20:21 22:01 02:40 04:22 12:35 14:18
10:08 11:48 19:58 21:37 02:30 04:11 12:25 14:07
09:45 11:25 21:14 22:56 02:20 04:01 12:15 13:56
11:02 12:42 20:51 22:32 02:09 03:51 12:05 13:46
10:39 12:19 20:29 22:08 01:59 03:40 11:55 13:35
10:16 11:56 20:06 21:45 01:49 03:30 11:44 13:25
09:53 11:33 19:44 21:22 01:39 03:19 11:34 13:14
11:10 12:50 20:59 22:40 01:28 03:09 11:24 13:04
10:46 12:27 20:36 22:16 01:18 02:59 11:14 12:54
10:23 12:03 20:14 21:53 01:08 02:48 11:04 12:43
10:00 11:40 19:51 21:30 02:38 04:19 12:33 14:15
11:17 12:58 21:07 22:48 02:28 04:09 12:23 14:05
10:54 12:34 20:44 22:24 02:17 03:59 12:13 13:54
10:31 12:11 20:21 22:01 02:07 03:48 12:02 13:43
10:08 11:48 19:59 21:38 01:57 03:38 11:52 13:33
09:45 11:25 21:15 22:56 01:47 03:28 11:42 13:23
11:02 12:42 20:52 22:32 01:36 03:17 11:32 13:12
10:39 12:19 20:29 22:09 01:26 03:07 11:22 13:02
10:16 11:56 20:06 21:46 01:16 02:56 11:12 12:51
09:53 11:33 19:44 21:22 01:05 02:46 11:02 12:41
11:10 12:50 20:59 22:40 02:36 04:17 12:31 14:13
10:47 12:27 20:37 22:17 02:25 04:07 12:21 14:02
10:24 12:04 20:14 21:53 02:15 03:56 12:10 13:52
10:01 11:41 19:51 21:30 02:05 03:46 12:00 13:41
11:18 12:58 21:07 22:48 01:55 03:36 11:50 13:31
10:55 12:35 20:44 22:25 01:44 03:25 11:40 13:20
10:31 12:12 20:22 22:01 01:34 03:15 11:30 13:10

Mar 01 05:33 07:13 15:22 17:02
Mar 02 05:08 06:48 14:58 16:37
Mar 03 04:44 06:23 16:12 17:53
Mar 04 05:59 07:39 15:48 17:28
Mar 05 05:34 07:14 15:23 17:03
Mar 06 05:09 06:49 14:59 16:38
Mar 07 04:45 06:24 16:13 17:54
Mar 08 06:00 07:40 15:49 17:29
Mar 09 05:35 07:15 15:25 17:04
Mar 10 05:10 06:50 15:00 16:39
Mar 11 04:46 06:26 16:14 17:56
Mar 12 06:01 07:41 15:50 17:30
Mar 13 05:36 07:16 15:26 17:05
Mar 14 05:11 06:51 15:01 16:40
Mar 15 04:47 06:27 16:16 17:57
Mar 16 06:02 07:42 15:51 17:31
Mar 17 05:37 07:17 15:27 17:06
Mar 18 05:13 06:52 15:03 16:41
Mar 19 04:48 06:28 16:17 17:58
Mar 20 06:03 07:43 15:52 17:33
Mar 21 05:38 07:18 15:28 17:07
Mar 22 05:14 06:54 15:04 16:43
Mar 23 04:49 06:29 16:18 17:59
Mar 24 06:04 07:44 15:53 17:34
Mar 25 05:39 07:19 15:29 17:09
Mar 26 05:15 06:55 15:05 16:44
Mar 27 04:50 06:30 14:41 16:19
Mar 28 06:05 07:45 15:54 17:35
Mar 29 05:41 07:21 15:30 17:10
Mar 30 05:16 06:56 15:06 16:45
Mar 31 04:51 06:31 14:42 16:20

05:50 07:30 15:40 17:20 11:02 12:43 20:52 22:33
05:26 07:06 15:16 16:56 10:39 12:19 20:29 22:09
05:02 06:42 14:53 16:32 10:16 11:56 20:07 21:46
06:19 07:59 16:08 17:49 09:53 11:33 19:44 21:23
05:55 07:35 15:44 17:24 11:10 12:50 21:00 22:41
05:31 07:11 15:21 17:00 10:47 12:27 20:37 22:17
05:07 06:47 14:58 16:36 10:24 12:04 20:14 21:54
06:23 08:03 16:13 17:54 10:01 11:41 19:52 21:31
06:00 07:40 15:49 17:29 09:38 11:18 21:07 22:49
05:36 07:16 15:26 17:05 10:55 12:35 20:45 22:25
05:12 06:52 15:02 16:41 10:32 12:12 20:22 22:01
04:48 06:28 16:17 17:58 10:09 11:49 19:59 21:38
06:04 07:44 15:54 17:34 09:46 11:25 21:15 22:56
05:40 07:21 15:30 17:10 11:02 12:43 20:52 22:33
05:17 06:57 15:07 16:46 10:39 12:19 20:29 22:09
04:53 06:33 16:22 18:03 10:16 11:56 20:07 21:46
06:09 07:49 15:59 17:39 09:53 11:33 19:44 21:23
05:45 07:25 15:35 17:15 11:10 12:50 21:00 22:41
05:22 07:02 15:12 16:51 10:47 12:27 20:37 22:17
04:58 06:38 14:49 16:27 10:24 12:04 20:14 21:54
06:14 07:54 16:03 17:44 10:01 11:41 19:52 21:30
05:50 07:30 15:40 17:20 09:38 11:18 21:07 22:48
05:26 07:06 15:16 16:56 10:55 12:35 20:44 22:25
05:03 06:42 14:53 16:32 10:32 12:12 20:22 22:01
06:19 07:59 16:08 17:49 10:08 11:49 19:59 21:38
05:55 07:35 15:44 17:24 09:45 11:25 21:15 22:56
05:31 07:11 15:21 17:00 11:02 12:42 20:52 22:33
05:07 06:47 14:58 16:36 10:39 12:19 20:29 22:09
06:23 08:04 16:13 17:54 10:16 11:56 20:07 21:46
06:00 07:40 15:49 17:29 09:53 11:33 19:44 21:23
05:36 07:16 15:26 17:05 11:10 12:50 21:00 22:40

01:37 03:18 11:33 13:13
01:27 03:08 11:23 13:03
01:17 02:58 11:13 12:52
01:06 02:47 11:03 12:42
02:37 04:18 12:32 14:14
02:26 04:08 12:21 14:03
02:16 03:57 12:11 13:53
02:06 03:47 12:01 13:42
01:56 03:37 11:51 13:32
01:45 03:26 11:41 13:21
01:35 03:16 11:31 13:11
01:25 03:05 11:20 13:00
01:14 02:55 11:10 12:50
01:04 02:45 11:00 12:40
02:34 04:16 12:29 14:11
02:24 04:05 12:19 14:01
02:14 03:55 12:09 13:50
02:03 03:44 11:59 13:40
01:53 03:34 11:48 13:29
01:43 03:24 11:38 13:19
01:33 03:13 11:28 13:08
01:22 03:03 11:18 12:58
01:12 02:53 11:08 12:48
02:42 04:23 12:37 14:19
02:32 04:13 12:27 14:09
02:22 04:03 12:17 13:58
02:11 03:52 12:06 13:48
02:01 03:42 11:56 13:37
01:51 03:32 11:46 13:27
01:40 03:21 11:36 13:16
01:30 03:11 11:26 13:06

ii

NOAA 17137.62 MHz

NOAA 18
137.91 MHzNOAA 12137.50 MHz

NOAA 15137.50 MHz

NOAA 17137.62 MHz

You can download a PDF version of these predictions from: http://www.geo-web.org.uk/predictions.pdf

NOAA 18
137.91 MHz

December 2006

Group for Earth Observation

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: douglas@dsdeans.freeserve.co.uk
John Tellick, Surbiton, Surrey, ENGLAND
Meteosat-8 advice - registering for the various MSG services, hardware and software installation andtroubleshooting. John will also field general queries about any aspect of receiving weather satellite
transmissions.
• telephone: (0208) 390 3315
• e-mail: info@geo-web.org.uk
Keith Holland, London, ENGLAND
Specifically, help for APT users (137 MHz band).
• e-mail: geo@koholland.plus.com
David Strickland, Truro, Cornwall, ENGLANDDavid has set up his own wireless network system of three computers. He has interests in electronic
design and prototyping, general computing, microchip processors with various facilities and of course
MSG satellite imaging. He will be happy to discuss any of the above topics, and to help anyone local,
including viewing his setup.
• e-mail: David@Strickland.uk.com
Geoff Morris GW3ATZ, Shotton, Flintshire, NE WALES
Geoff has lots of experience with aerial, co-ax,connectors, mounting hardware etc. and has also done a
lot of work with the orbiting satellites. Geoff has been a EUMETCast Meteosat-8 user for some time andis familiar with David Taylor’s MSG software; he should be able to share his experiences with
newcomers to this branch of the hobby.
• Tel: (01244) 818252• e-mail: gw3atz@btopenworld.com
Guy Martin G8NFU, Biggin Hill NW Kent, ENGLAND
Guy is prepared to advise anyone who wishes to receive MSG under Windows 2000.
• agm@tonbridge-school.org
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
E-mail contact can of course be made at any time, but we would ask you to restrict
telephone contact to the period 7.00-9.00 pm in the evenings.

Useful Internet
Discussion Groups
There are a number of Internet-based discussion groups available to weather satellite enthusiasts. You canjoin any of these by sending an e-mail to the appropriate address, with a request to subscribe. Indeed, ablank e-mail containing the word ‘subscribe’ in its Subject line is all that is required. Some of the more
useful groups and their contact addresses are listed below.
GEO-Subscribers
This is a group where GEO members can exchange information relating to either GEO itself or Earthobservation satellites and related matters.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/GEO-Subscribers/

Satsignal
An end-user self help group for users of David Taylor's Satellite Software Tools including the orbit predictor
WXtrack; the file decoders GeoSatSignal and SatSignal; the HRPT Reader and image creator program;the image remapper GroundMap; and software for the EUMETCast service—the MSG Data Manager, the
AVHRR Manager and the ATOVS Reader.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SatSignal/

MSG-1
A forum dedicated to Meteosat Second Generation (MSG), where members can share information about
the EUMETCast reception hardware and software for the Meteosat geostationary satellites.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MSG-1/

METOP
A forum for users of high-resolution AHRPT data from 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 ATVOS data. With 40 sounder channels (20 microwave, 19 thermaland 1 visible), there is a vast amount of data available. 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
A group providing reports, updates and news 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 their problems,
discuss its features and ask questions about it.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/wxtoimg/

www.geo-web.org.uk

GEO Quarterly No 12

Copy Deadline
for GEO Quarterly No 13

Saturday, January 27
The Editor is always on the lookout forarticles and images for inclusion in GEO
Quarterly. These can relate to any aspect ofEarth Imaging, especially:• Technical articles concerning relevant
hardware / 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
to answer
Contributions should of course be original
and, where possible, should be submitted tothe editor in electronic format (floppy disc, email attachment, CD). But of course we will
also accept handwritten or 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
so that 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, e.g. JPG, BMP, GIF, TIFF
etc. Images in both monochrome and colour
are welcomed for inclusion. Line drawingsand diagrams are preferred in Windows
metafile and postscript formats. We can also
scan original photographs, negatives andslides.
Gridding, Overlays and Captions
Please note that readers’ satellite images
should be provided without added grid lines,
country outlines or captions unless these
are considered essential to illustrate anarticle.
If your article submission contains embedded
images and diagrams, please note that it isessential that you also submit theindividual images in one of the formats
described above: these are essential forpage make-up purposes.
Submission of Copy
All materials for publication should be sent to
the Editor, Les Hamilton, 8 Deeside Place,
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Materials may also be sent as attachments
to the following e-mail address:
editor@geo-web.org.uk

Larger attachments (1 Mb to 10 Mb) are best
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And finally . . . if you do have material readyfor the next GEO Quarterly, please submit it
as soon as it is ready—do not wait till thedeadline before sending it in. This simply
creates an editorial log-jam.

iii

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iv

www.geo-web.org.uk

December 2006

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 12

Peter Wakelin
The Early Days
Plans for space-borne radars are almost as
old as the ‘Space Age’ itself. Back in the
1960s, at the height of the Cold War, a vast
amount of money was spent on developing
reconnaissance satellites in both the USA
and the USSR, and it is now known that as
far back as 1961 the Russians had plans to
put radars in space to monitor the fleets of
US submarines and surface ships equippedwith nuclear weapons.
The USSR took an early lead, not because
their radar technology was more advanced,
but because they had the launch vehicles
capable of placing the necessarily large
and power-hungry satellites into orbit. The
cover-all Cosmos name was given to most
USSR launches to hide their true nature
but western analysts were able to deduce a
possible role for some satellite classes
based on their orbital parameters. Backthen, orbital data on all objects tracked by
US sensors, including data on their own
classified missions, was freely available.
A Puzzle
Cosmos 198, launched on December 27,
1967, was the first of a series that had
analysts puzzled; each flight started out ina circular orbit at around 270 km but later
produced several objects, one of which
climbed to an approximately 950 km
circular orbit. Cosmos 198’s payload
separated and a part was raised after justtwo days: the next satellite in the series,
Cosmos 209, orbited for six days before
part of it was raised. The trend oversubsequent launches was to increase thetime before separation to around twomonths.
In 1974, the Director of Naval Intelligencein Washington published Understanding
Soviet Naval Development, which offered a
few clues and things began to fall into
place. In the same week, and quite
independently, the American press and thelate Geoff Perry, MBE, leader of the
Kettering Group of analysts, came up withthe same interpretations; the Russians
were testing a surveillance satellite
incorporating radar designed to seek out
naval movements at sea anywhere in theworld, regardless of the weather and evenwhen ships were maintaining radio silence.
To ensure an adequate return radar signal,
the satellites had to fly in a low orbit withoccasional small boosts to overcome
atmospheric drag. Furthermore, to power
the radar an RTG (radioactive thermal
generator) was used. As an RTG in low

Earth orbit poses a potentially serious
pollution risk, the operating mode was tomake the radar survey in low orbit andlater, when telemetry indicated an imminent
failure of the sensors or associatedprocessing equipment, the RTG would be
separated and raised to a higher long-lifeorbit.
Cosmos 954 was launched on
September 18, 1977 and was expected tomove up to the ‘safe’ orbit during
November—but it failed to do so. Orbital
decay caused it to burn up in theatmosphere on January 24 spreading 50 kgof radioactive uranium-235 over northern
Canada. Following this catastrophe, there
were no further launches in the series until
April, 1980 by which time an alternative
power source had been developed.
These radar satellites were designed andbuilt at KB Arsenal in St Petersburg where
the follow-on Pirs satellites were developedin the 1980s. With the end of the Cold War,KB Arsenal planned to commercialise theirsecret hardware with Project Obzor(Survey) but, due to lack of funds, Obzor
never made it past the planning stage.
The Almaz Project
Meanwhile, at another design bureau,
Vladimir Chelomei, who developed the
USSR’s cruise missile, was working on ahigh-resolution radar satellite named Almaz(Diamond) to be installed on a manned
space vehicle. However, after a few scaleddown versions of Almaz flew in the 1970s,
it was realised that manned
reconnaissance from space was too
expensive and inefficient as a highproportion of the crew’s time was diverted
to housekeeping and station maintenance.
The programme was terminated in June,
1978.

Almaz T
Credit: Anatoly Zak

Some of the Almaz experiments weresuccessful and, after political changes, theAlmaz programme was revived as Almaz-T,
an unmanned Earth resources spacecraft
equipped with multiple sensors including a
www.geo-web.org.uk

new, large, synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
EKOR-A, which is also known as Mech-K(Sword). A few days prior to the scheduled
late-1981 launch, orders came from
Moscow to kill the project as the money
was needed to fund Buran, Russia’sequivalent of the US’s Space Shuttle. Later,
new Chief Designer Gerbert Yefremov
convinced Minister of Defence Sokolov, in
April 1986, that the programme should be
revived. After several years in storage thespacecraft was found to be in fairly goodcondition, unlike its fairing which had beenused as a toilet. The launch took place on
November 29, 1986 but was unsuccessful
due to the failure of the Proton rocket’s
second stage to separate.
Success at Last
The next Almaz-T, with a mass of over
18,000 kg, was successfully launched on
July 25, 1987 as Cosmos 1870 andoperated for two years until it was deorbited from its 240 km orbit into the Pacific
Ocean on July 29, 1989. Although classed
as an Earth resources spacecraft, its highresolution radar obviously had military
applications too.

Almaz T1
Credit: Krunichev

An improved version was launched to a
270 km orbit on March 31, 1991 andannounced by the Russians as Almaz-1. It
had a better radar resolution of 12 m andreal-time global data were returned to Earth
via geostationary satellites. Unfortunately,
one of its two SAR antennas failed to
deploy correctly rendering that side
inoperable. It was de-orbited after operatingfor 18 months.
Further improvements were planned for the
next Almaz which included three radars aswell as high resolution optical sensors but
the project was terminated in 1992 due tolack of money.
ResursA system named Resurs (Resource) wasannounced in 1984. Resurs would provide
regular, remotely-sensed data every five toseven days for ‘monitoring all sorts of23

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

natural phenomena important to man atmospheric and ocean processes,
possible changes in the Earth’s geologicalstructure and the like’ said the announcer
on Radio Moscow for North America at
2300 UT on January 27. There would be
three sub-systems within Resurs: Resurs-F
would be a high-resolution film-returnsystem, Resurs-O a Landsat-type
spacecraft with its imagery transmitted to
Earth via radio and Okean-O, a system,
familiar to many readers, for meteorologicaland ocean ice surveillance. Okean-O would
carry a side-looking radar with a 1500 m
resolution over a swath width of 460 km.
Okean-O disguised as Cosmos
Cosmos 1500 was launched on September
28, 1983 and Kettering Group observers
soon picked up APT-compatible signals on
137.40 MHz. As the orbit was lower thanthe NOAA polar-orbiting weather satellites
and the scan rate was 240 lines per
minute, resolution of the visible imagery
was good. On occasions, radar imagery
was displayed over part of the scan.
The value of radar imagery for ocean ice
monitoring became apparent when
Cosmos 1500 imagery rendered help to acaravan of ships icebound in the eastern
Arctic Ocean near Pevek. Later, theicebreaker Vladivostok used Cosmos 1500
imagery to reach the stricken research
vessel Michael Somov icebound in the
Antarctic.
Cosmos 1602, launched exactly a year
later, and Cosmos 1766 launched on July28, 1986 had similar imagery on
137.4 MHz. The data storage capability of
Cosmos 1602 was revealed when theauthor received a visible image of Japan insouthern England on November 29, 1984and stored radar imagery soon followed.
Radar imagery was always limited to a
maximum of seven minutes’ duration,
presumably because of power limitations.
Cosmos 1869, launched in July, 1987 wasless successful as the radar antenna only
partially deployed but other equipment
functioned normally. It is thought that allthese spacecraft were regarded as
experimental as it was not until the next
launch in the series, on July 5, 1981, that
the Okean name was given to these craft intheir launch announcements. To
acknowledge the Ukrainian origin of thesespacecraft, the name was changed to Sich
for later launches.
The FutureSpace activity in Russia has reduced
dramatically since the break-up of theformer USSR and political upheavals in the
1980s followed by economic problems. In
1982, 101 of the world total of 121
successful space launches were from the
USSR.
By 1992 this had fallen to 54 Russianlaunches and in the first 10 months of 2006
the Russians have made only 16 launches,

24

This Sich-1 image was received by the author at 2207UT on November 17, 1995 but was recorded at
1450UT on the same day. It is a visible image of Central America with a narrow radar image superimposed
down the centre. Nicaragua, Mexico, Cuba and Jamaica are readily discernible in the visible image whereas
cloud-covered Panama is prominent on the radar image.

seven of which have been either ferry trips
to the International Space Station orlaunches for other nations for which they
are reimbursed most or all of the launchcosts.
A new generation of weather satellites
designated Meteor-M will carry a sidelooking radar with two modes ofwww.geo-web.org.uk

observation, one of which will have 400 m
resolution, as well as advanced
multispectral imaging and sounding
radiometers. As recently as the last meetingof the Co-ordination Group for
Meteorological Satellites held in November,2005 the launch date was quoted as ‘late2006’ but this now looks very improbable.

December 2006

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 12

Index to Satellite Images
Front CoverEurope’s Envisat imaged extensive
brash ice stretching all the way from
Svalbard to the North Pole in thisMERIS image dating from August 29,
2006.
Image: ESA

Inside Front CoverAn enhanced colour view of gullies in a
Martian crater wall, taken by the High
Resolution Imaging Science
Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
See page 10.
Inside Back CoverNOAA-14 will complete its 12th fullyear in orbit on December 12. This
image, submitted by Lawrence Harris,
illustrates the high quality of HRPT
still available from this geriatricsatellite. This image from the 09:28 UT
pass on September 10 was processedwith ReadHRPT.
Back Cover

Denis Bonomo received this excellent
Okean 4 image of the Bosphorus region on
November 29, 1994

Acknowledgements:
I am grateful to the following for theirvaluable input: Anatoly Zak, Vladimir
Agapov, Marcia Smith, the late Geoff Perry,
MBE and Sven Grahn. Sven has had adeep interest in Russian space activities formore than 40 years and has an excellent
website at
http://www.svengrahn.pp.se

Another valuable source of reliable
information is Encyclopedia Astronautica at
http://www.astronautix.com

Real-time imagery from Okean 4 as far west as
the UK was rare but the author captured thisimage at 0902UT on September 15, 1995

A valuable source of information, though
not available on line, has been ‘Soviet
Space Programs: 1971-75’ and thesubsequent issues covering 1976-80 and
1981-87 prepared at the US Library ofCongress for the Committee on Commerce,
Science and Transportation of the US
Senate.

Meteosat Stamp

Chuck Vaugn obtained this Feng
Yun-1D image of Hurricane Ileana at
14:39 UT on August 23, 2006. The
storm, located over the eastern Pacific
Ocean just south of the tip of Baja
California, had 190 kph peak winds.
Page 21
Hurricanes Gordon and Helene as seenby the NASA Aqua satellite on
September 18.
Image: Jesse Allen, MODIS Rapid Response Team.

Page 22
This fine NOAA-18 channel-2 image
dating from 03:48 UT on October 28,
2006 shows the eastern part ofAustralia plus an unusually cloud-free
Papua New Guinea.
NOAA CLASS Archive (www.class.noaa.gov)

Page 27
This fine image from China’s Feng Yun
1D was captured by Lawrence Harris
from his home in Southampton at 07:45
UT on September 16 on a Timestep
HRPT system and processed withDavid Taylor's HRPT Reader software.
The oblique early morning sunlighthighlights relief over Scotland andCumbria as well as creating interesting
cloud shadows.
Page 33

Rob Denton sent us aphotograph of this postal FirstDay Cover from France, dated
October 22, 1983 andcommemorating ‘Meteorology’.

Winter’s first icy blast hits western
Europe in this NOAA-18 channel-4 IR
image acquired at Russia’s SMIS at
02:03 UT on November 1, 2006. The
comma depression and the showers
streaming southward ahead of itbrought heavy snowfalls to coastal
regions of Scandinavia.

The design includes both
Meteosat-1 and an image ofEurope transmitted from thesatellite.

Image: SMIS (http://smis.iki.rssi.ru/)

www.geo-web.org.uk

25

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

Les Hamilton
Just over a year ago there occurred one of the best-ever examplesof the so-called Butterfly Effect[1]. On October 27, 2005, on aclear, calm Antarctic day, the 100 kilometre long iceberg B15A
suddenly fragmented into half a dozen pieces. B15A was itself
half of the original B15 iceberg which calved from the Ross Ice
Shelf during March 2000. At that time, B15 was the largest
iceberg ever known, measuring approximately 300 x 40
kilometres. It split in two in late 2003 [2].

Terra MODIS image of B15A on November 1, 2005, shortly after the break-up
Credit: MODIS Rapid Response System

On October 21 there had been a powerful storm in the Gulf of
Alaska which lasted a day and a half. A team of scientists led
by Professors Emile Okal (Northwestern University) andDouglas MacAyeal (University of Chicago) presented evidence in
the October issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letterswhich connected this storm with the B15A disintegration, .
Terra MODIS image of B15A on October 27, 2005, just prior to breaking up
Credit: MODIS Rapid Response System

Records from seismometers placed on the iceberg years earlier
showed movement in B15A starting 12 hours before it broke up
and continuing for three days thereafter. Despite prevailing
calm conditions the iceberg was exhibiting a vertical oscillationof about a centimetre and a 10 cm movement from side to side.
Oceanographers have known since the early 1960s that oceanswells can travel half way around the planet and researcherssuspected ocean swell to be the cause of this break up. They
were able to calculate the origin of the swell from theseismometer data by comparing the arrival times of the fastermoving long-wavelength waves with the slower-moving shortwavelength ones. Amazingly, the swell proved to originate from
13,500 kilometers away—off the coast of Alaska!

26

Wave-buoy records showed that the original waves had been
about twelve metres high in the Gulf of Alaska. Two days later,
they had reached Hawaii at a reduced height of five metres andthree days later still they were picked up by a sensitive
seismometer on Pitcairn Island in the south Pacific. Ultimately,
they reached Antarctica as little more than a swell at the sitewhere B15A had run aground near Cape Adare. Continued
pounding of the ice against the sea bed as the gentle swell
repeatedly picked up the iceberg and then dumped it back down
again is believed to have led to its demise.
1. The Butterfly Effect, more correctly ‘sensitive dependence on initialconditions’, is a concept of chaos theory developed by themeteorologist Edward Lorenz during the 1960s. The term derives
from his lecture title, ‘Predictability: Does the flap of a Butterfly’s
wings in Brazil set off a Tornado in Texas?’ The implication was thateven a very small disturbance in one part of the Earth could be thetrigger for much a more serious meteorological event elsewhere.
2. Massive B15 Iceberg Splits in Two - GEOQ 1, page 34, March 2004

www.geo-web.org.uk

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

Les Hamilton and David Taylor
GEO’s Dutch counterparts Werkgroep
Kunstmanen traditionally hold one of theirfive annual get-togethers on the second
Saturday of September. This year John
Tellick, David Taylor and Les Hamilton took
the opportunity to pay them a visit. David
and Les flew from Scotland for a four day
visit while John motored from England andjoined us for the Saturday.
The Netherlands had, so we were told,
endured the most dreadful cool, cloudy andwet weather since the start of September,and although it would be stretching theimagination to suggest that we ‘brought thefine weather with us’, it is a fact that, within
an hour of our arrival at Schiphol early on
the Thursday, chinks of blue sky werealready showing through the cloud. By midday it was gloriously sunny—and remained
so throughout the entire four days of ourvisit.
During the days leading up to the meeting
we were shown around Haarlem, IJmuiden
and Amsterdam by Ruud Jansen (chairmanof the Werkgroep) and Arne van Belle, bothof whom spared no effort to show us
around and make us at home in theircountry. And one evening, another member
well known to GEO readers, Fred van den
Bosch, invited us to his home for a
speciality Vietnamese meal prepared by hiswife Minh.
The Meeting
The general theme for this ‘bijeenkomst’(meeting), held in the Nimeto building,
Utrecht (figure 1), was the history ofamateur weather satellite reception.
Members had been encouraged torummage in their attics and delve deep into
their cellars to unearth items of hardware
from the formative years of the hobby(figure 10). One of the most impressive of
these was an X-Y drive antenna mount(figure 6). X-Y mounts have a much better
performance near the zenith than aconventional azimuth-elevation mountwhich may require a very large azimuthchange in a short time when the satellite isnear overhead.
The first hour of the day proved totally
informal, providing time for members withexhibits to set them up and chat withfriends. As is usual these days, there wasalso the near-obligatory projection of live
MSG imagery on a big screen throughout
the meeting (figure 5). Soon, we wereregaled with a display of receivers, fax
copiers, antennas and historic images fromsatellites such as ESSA-8 and NOAA-4.

28

The formal part of the meeting was chairedby Ruud Jansen, who dealt with the usual
formalities before handing over to Arne van
Belle who brought us up to date with thelatest developments regarding weather
satellites, including the on-off saga relating
to the launch of MetOp. If all goes to plan,
the launch should, we were told, now takeplace on October 7. Official matterscompleted, the microphone was thenpassed around the hall, allowing members
to describe the equipment they had broughtfor display.

Figure 1 - The Nimeto - venue for the meeting

Some of the early satellite images exhibitedby Ruud Jansen were produced using acathode ray oscilloscope as the image
output device. The satellite signal was fed
into the ‘scope to produce a dot of varying
intensity which scanned the screen while acamera, with its shutter open, recorded
everything on film. Later, the film would be
developed, and the satellite image printed.
A much superior if time-consuming methodof creating images was demonstrated byHans Scherhorn (figure 3). A recorded
Meteosat-7 signal was played through acassette tape deck. The output signal waselectronically converted to a proportional
high voltage charge and then fed to aneedle positioned just above the surface ofelectrostatic paper. The paper itself was
fitted around a rotating drum, spinsynchronised to the 2400 Hz satellite
signal.
Afterwards, the paper, now bearing a latentelectrostatic image, was placed in an
agitated bath containing petroleum andtoner particles which turned the charged
areas of the paper black. After a couple ofminutes drying, there was a high-resolution
print in a full range of greyscales.
Amazingly, this process could outperform
all forms of printer until the photoquality
inkjet appeared on the scene.
After a break for lunch, David Taylor madean illustrated presentation to the meeting inwhich he gave an overview of the state of
the satellites operated by EUMETSAT. He
explained how, this year, there are manysatellite relocations as the new MSG
satellites take over routine operation at thezero degree longitude station while the old
Meteosat-6 and Meteosat-7 are relocatedfor the Indian Ocean Data Coverage
service. David also detailed how
EUMETCast has been considerably
extended and is now attracting world-wide
interest, and that the data now includes

www.geo-web.org.uk

Figure 2 - Heat radiators inside Arne’s PC

high-resolution images from the NOAA-17
and NOAA-18 polar orbiters, while the newdata provided once MetOp is launched will
provide even more challenges andopportunities.
Other Matters
On the day following the meeting,Ferdinand Valk took us on a guided tour of
Noord Holland, which included the hamletof Zaanse Schans with its restored houses
and working windmills, the coastal villagesof Marken and Volendam, and a circuit of
the Markermeer. The weather was flawless(figure 4) and Ferdinand pointed out how
satellite images of the region clearly show
up the reclaimed polders which have a very
different colour from the original terrain.
The image also shows a noticeable
difference in colour between the IJsselmeer
and the Markermeer, then two inland lakes
created from the former Zuider Zee.
Our long week-end proved to be highly
enjoyable, not solely because of theopportunity to attend the meeting in the
Nimeto, but also for the friendship ofeveryone who shared the four days with us.
Photo Credits
Figures 6 and 8: David Taylor
Figures 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11: Les Hamilton

December 2006

Figure 3 -Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 12

Hans Scherhorn (right) demonstrating his ‘wet-paper electrostatic
drum process’ to Ferdinand Valk (left) and Ben Uiterwaal
Photo: Ruud Jansen

Figure 4 - A MODIS image of The Netherlands, imaged by
NASA’s Aqua satellite on September 10.
Image: MODIS Rapid Response System

Figure 5 - EUMETCast projected on a large screen

Figure 7 -Rob Alblas (left) in conversation
with David Taylor

Figure 10 - Some of the hardware on display at
the Werkgroep meeting in Utrecht

Figure 6 - X-Y drive antenna mountFigure 8 - Fred van den Bosch (2ndleft) demonstrating his software

Figure 9 - Ruud Jansen, Arne van Belle and David Taylor
enjoying a day in Amsterdam

Figure 11 - Windmills at Zaanse Schanswww.geo-web.org.uk

29

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

Keith Fraser KC2JC (ex GW3ZVA) of Amherst, New York has
continued following the icemelt in Canada’s Northwest Passage andsent us this NOAA-17 image from the 17:33 UT pass on August 1. Keithwrote: ‘Following my previous image (GEO Q 11, page 40) the sea is
now quite ice-free around the east coast of King William Island. This is30

December 2006

the route that Amundsen followed. The west coast, Victoria Strait, is still
blocked with ice flowing down from the Beaufort Sea. This was whereFranklin made his error and he foundered on this west side. Dolphin
and Union Strait and Coronation Gulf are both open, as is the GreatBear Lake at the extreme left margin of the image.’www.geo-web.org.uk

December 2006

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 12

This overnight NOAA-18 channel-4 HRPT segment from 22:41:22 UT on October 31, 2006 shows striking detail of icepack forming in the Kara
Sea to the east of Novaya Zemlya. The estuaries of the rivers Ob and Yenise to the east of the Jamal peninsula are clearly already frozen over.
Image: SMIS (http://smis.iki.rssi.ru/)

As winter starts to bite over eastern Europe, this infrared segment from the 00:22 UT NOAA-18 channel-4 HRPT pass on November 1, 2006 picks out thecourse of the River Danube where it defines the border between Romania and Bulgaria as its waters journey towards the Black Sea.
Image: SMIS (http://smis.iki.rssi.ru/)

www.geo-web.org.uk

31

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

Peter Bartlett M0DLC
Following on from the interestingarticle concerning lightning
strikes in GEO Quarterly 11, I too
have been watching, on a regularbasis, other sites that use the
Boltek LD-250 Lightning Detector
and Stormvue software. On
August 13, I followed a storm overa couple of hours while it moved
southwest from East Anglia until
it arrived overhead in the London
area, which proved to be very
accurate. By entering ‘Stormvue’
into Google, I have also found anumber of other sites using thesame software and hardware
setups [1,2].
Blitzortung.org
Of course, as John Heath
explained, a Boltek system is notcheap. However, there is a
network of over 80 amateur
stations throughout Europe which
feed Boltek lightning data to:
http://www.blitzortung.org

where you will find a map withcurrent sferics plotted on it. The
locations and websites of theparticipating stations can befound at:http://www.blitzortung.org/
index.php?mode=5&map=5&lang=e

If you prefer to monitor lightning
directly on your own PC, you cangenerate the same maps using theLightning Viewer software
written by Edmund Korffmann.
This is a simple freeware program
for Windows which uses theInternet to automatically collectraw lightning data from
Blitzortung.org then plots themon to a map (figure 1). The
program gives the user control ofwhich lightning data appears on
screen, including alarms and city
locations. You can download
Lightning Viewer, currently inversion 1.1, from:http://www.korffmann.de/

by following the link to ‘Lightning
Viewer’.
Blitzortung.org is a free noncommercial service providing
information about the location oflightning storms over central
Europe. The data may only be

32

used for personal purposes, andany of the charts bearing the “©
http://www.Blitzortung.org”
overprint can be freely integrated
into your own web pages. It is,however, emphasised that thedata must not be used for theprotection of life or property.
Lightning Viewer
This software consists of just asingle executable file. You canenter the latitude and longitudeof your home location in the righthand panel when it appears on
the map as a green dot with a red
100 kilometre range circle around
it. A second range circle (green)
can be added by entering a value
in the ‘Range/km’ field and limits
the statistical information to thisradius around the home location.

Figure 1 - European lightning strikes

The default map shows the wholeof Europe but, by clicking thenational flag buttons along thescreen, enlarged maps of specificcountries can be displayed.
Strike Visualisation
Clicking the ‘Strikes’ button cues
this display. Lightning strikes are
updated every minute and results
for the previous hour are
displayed on the map as coloured
dots corresponding with the age ofthe strike.The right-hand panel ofthe display shows the local time,
the number of strikes in the pasthour as well as the number ofstrikes in the previous minute(figure 2).

Figure 2 - Strike Visualisation

Density/Area Visualisation
When you click the ‘Areas’ button,
the display alters to show thelightning density as contour-filledareas. This allows one todetermine where the most intenselightning activity is currently
located. The colours represent the
number of strikes within a radiusof 20 km around each pixel
position (figure 3).
Density Distribution
The figures additionally show, in
the lower right-hand corner, a
simple vertical bar graph which
details the number of strikes
relative to the time intervals
Concluded on page ...42

www.geo-web.org.uk

Figure 3 - Density Visualisation

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

Almost the entire United Kingdom was covered by extensive lee wave cloud on October 8, 2006. Another interesting feature is a rope cloud, looking like anerupting volcano just off the coast of Suffolk. Any theories to the editor, please. The channel-2 HRPT image above was acquired by NOAA-18 around 12:45 UTImage: NOAA CLASS archive at www.class.noaa.gov

34

www.geo-web.org.uk

December 2006

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 12

What a difference a day makes! The entire United Kingdom is almost cloud-fee in this NOAA-18 channel-2 image acquired around 12:35 UT
on October 9, 2006. A wet night was swiftly replaced by a near summer-like day with temperatures approaching 20° in many places.
Image: NOAA CLASS archive at www.class.noaa.gov

www.geo-web.org.uk

35

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

Fred van den Bosch
Overview
There has been increasing interest of late in EUMETSAT’s EARSAVHRR service which collects high-resolution AVHRR data from a
network of acquisition stations and disseminates it via
EUMETCast [1]. The data files are sent in small segments which
can be combined into a single file using either David Taylor’s.
AVHRR-Manager [2] or XRIT2PIC from Rob Alblas [3]. My system
uses the former, which outputs a high-resolution data file (HPT)
and a corresponding thumbnail image (JPG).
The HPT data can be converted into images by means of
HRPTReader [2], which can output a variety of single-channel
images as well as composites and enhancements. Normally, eachof these must be saved separately. If desired, the images can beconverted to a different projection by the program GroundMap.
My situation
Just like the majority of the programs on my system, the receptionof AVHRR telemetry received via EUMETCast, saving it to HPTfiles and its conversion into images using the HRPT Reader has
been automated [4]. In principle, I make four images from every
HPT file: corrected false colour, vegetation and RGB images, andin addition the uncorrected false-colour image required for use with
GroundMap.
Occasionally things go wrong and an HPT file is not decoded. Thismight occur if the system had briefly become overloaded or
because data from several satellites had arrived nearly
simultaneously. The result is that some HRPT images are missing.
To take the hard work out of having to create each of the missing
images individually later on, I have written the ProcessAVHRR
software. Using this program, I can easily start HRPTReader inbatch mode and for for every HPT file that has not been executed
create all four images I require in a single operation, reaching thesame result that should have happened automatically.
General Operation
ProcessAVHRR allows several images to be very easily generated
at one go. Before the program is run for the first time a number ofparameters must be defined. Thereafter, you can run
ProcessAVHRR, select an AVHRR file (HPT) and, by clicking abutton, start either the HRPT Reader or GroundMap (or both) togenerate all the required images. If the exported image alreadyexists, a warning is given and the image is displayed.
Installation
Create a suitable folder (called POVIM in this note) and extract the
program ProcessAVHRR into it. This folder can be anywhere you
wish:
E.g. ‘C:\POVIM’ or ‘C:\Program Files\POVIM’HRPT Reader Configuration
Because ProcessAVHRR also makes use of GroundMap to scale
images produced by HRPT Reader, extra care is needed indeciding where the output images from HRPT Reader will be
stored. Define a folder using <Options→Result location>. It is also
important under <Options→Image filename format> to edit the‘format’ string to ‘yyyymmddhhnn’ (i.e. no hyphens) and make sure
all three check boxes on that page are ticked. Click ‘OK’ to confirm(figure 2)

36

ProcessAVHRR Configuration
The POVIM folder contains the file ProcessAVHRR.cfg, which
consists of six lines of data. These must be adapted to your own
requirements. Open the file using Notepad. The first part, in mycase, is as follows:
D:\DATA\AVHRR\
C:\Program Files\David Taylor\HRPTReader\ReadHRPT.exe- fc:corr.jpg -ndvi:corr.jpg -rgb:R3G3B5:corr.jpg –fc:.JPG -close-min
D:\MSG\AVHRR\
C:\Program Files\David Taylor\Groundmap\Groundmap.exe-lat1:40 -lat2:60 -lon1:-10 -lon2:30 -width:1000 -height:500-proj:Polar
The significance of the rows is as follows:
1 This is the folder where the output files (HPT) from AVHRRManager are stored. It can be located anywhere on your PC.
Remember the ‘\’ character at the end of the line.
2 This is the complete pathname for the HRPT Reader
3 This is the parameter string for the HRPT Reader. In the above
example a total of four images are generated.
If you also wish to generate images using GroundMap, the 4thparameter, ‘-fc:JPG’ must be present.
4 This is the folder, already defined within HRPT Reader, where its
image files are stored (here again, do not forget the final ‘\’)5 This is the complete pathname of GroundMap
6 This is the parameter string for GroundMap. This particular example
is from the GroundMap guide.

Execution
Start ProcessAVHRR. If there are already HPT files for the current
day in the folder, these will be displayed directly on the screen,otherwise the contents of the DATA folder are shown.
Next, choose a file by clicking on the filename (HPT) or on the
thumbnail (JPG). The thumbnail will be displayed. If an HRPT
image for this file already exists this is shown, and one of thefollowing two reports given:• File made and renamed
This means that files have been created and that the namehas already been adapted by my program RenameAVHRR. I
use this program in order to make the filename appropriate to
the system of POVIM Presentation Manager. I will describethat process later in a separate article about the Presentation
Manager.
• File generated
In this case the image has been generated but still has thesame name. If you do not use the RenameAVHRR program
this allows a control to take place.
The advantage is that you can check directly if there is a difference
between the generated image and the thumbnail. Unfortunately,
displaying the image costs quite some time because the files are
frequently large (figure 1).
When is this program useful?
The simplest option is to allow HRPT Reader to run automaticallyin batch mode. In that case ProcessAVHRR makes it is easy tocheck afterwards whether all the files have been processed. That isparticularly useful if the program RenameAVHRR is also used. This

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December 2006

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 12

program rounds the time element of eachfilename to a multiple of 15 minutes, thus
converting the output of HRPT Reader into
a form which can be read by POVIM
Presentation Manager. Because of this, it ispossible that files which are within the15minute span are not correctly processed.
If HRPT Reader is not used in batch mode,
ProcessAVHRR makes it very easy togenerate several images, each with adifferent enhancement, from the same HPT
file in a single operation.
If you regularly have a need to produce
several enhanced images from HRPT
Reader, working interactively via
ProcessAVHRR is much more efficient.
As an example, if you wished to create acorrected channel-2 image and save it in
BMP format, all you need do is edit line 3of the ProcessAVHRR.cfg file by theinsertion of ‘-ch2:corr.bmp’ into theparameter string as follows:-fc:corr.jpg -ndvi:corr.jpg-rgb:R3G3B5:corr.jpg -fc:.jpg-ch2:corr.bmp -close -min.
ProcessAVHRR can be found on myInternet site:
http://www.fredvandenbosch.nl/
downloads.html.

Restrictions
In the HRPT Reader, the naming
convention of the exported files isestablished. It is not feasible to incorporate
all possible naming combinations in myprogram. I have therefore, for this reason,chosen to assume one naming system:
yyyymmddhhnn

The checkmark against ‘Add imagedependent suffix’ is essential (figure 2).
Otherwise, when you use HRPT Reader
interactively, and an output file alreadyexists, a new file would be made with asuffix 1, 2 etc.
This option is switched off in batch mode.
This means that without the mark only one
image is generated no matter how many
parameters you have defined.

Figure 1 - The ProcessAVHRR display

For all other combinations it can happen
that existing filenames are not shown andthat GroundMap does not work. Generatingwith HRPT Reader always works, ofcourse, however.
References
1 EUMETSAT, www.eumetsat.int
Follow these menus:
WHAT WE DO→Satellites→EARS System→EARS-AVHRR

2 David Taylor
http://www.satsignal.eu/
3 Rob Alblas, http://www.alblas.demon.nl/wsat/
4 POVIM (2): Automating all processes
GEO Quarterly 11, September 2006, p 23

Figure 2 - Configuring filename style in HRPT Reader

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37

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

Hi Les,Having read Rob Denton’s challenge in the
March 2006 Geo Quarterly, I thought someone
should take it up. Throughout the past few
months I have been capturing numerous
passes with just the aim of getting further east.
The enclosed image is not the greatest, butrather that than leave Rob feeling nobody hastaken up his challenge: there may be better to
come.
The image was captured from NOAA-18 using
an RX2 receiver and a homemade co-ax style
QFH antenna, roughly 20 feet above groundlevel, from my home location in Pinner,
Middlesex, England.
The theory is trying to capture the right passwhen the satellite crosses over the Black Sea.
If the satellite is too far east, then the signal isweak and noise bars spoil it: too far west andthe image does not include much of the
Caspian Sea.
If anybody has already submitted entries,
perhaps you might publish the results to-dateso that members can check out thecompetition so far.
As I have said in the past, the Geo Quarterly is
excellent and a credit to you and theManagement Team.
Peter Bartlett
Pinner, Middlesex, England.
[No list of results I’m afraid, Peter. Your entry
was the only one received. The total apathy of
GEO members towards this challenge has leftme totally flabbergasted - Ed]
Dear Les,May I take this opportunity to thank you for all
your efforts of the last few years as editor of
GEO. You have done a wonderful job and I am
sure you will be sorely missed.
Regarding No 11, page 29: the Boltek LD-250
story. Just to clear a few things that may
confuse some readers. The map showing the
strikes is not the program from the LD-250 but
is software from another firm, NexStorm. If any
readers wish to learn more about the Boltek
LD-250 they can contact Skyview atwww.skyview.co.uk
by telephone at (01787) 883138 or by writing
to Skyview Systems, 9 Church Field Road,
Chilton Industrial Estate, Sudbury, Suffolk.
The two young ladies, Reanna and Janice, arealways helpful and will supply catalogues of all
the weather equipment they supply plus thecatalogue of Davis Instruments, if requested.
This information may help some readers whowant to increase their weather knowledge but
aren’t sure where to start.
As I said before, I hope you enjoy your rest
from the editorship and sincerely hope it is not
the last we hear from, and of, you.
Best wishes,
Brian Bainton, Newport.

38

Peter Bartlett’s NOAA-18 image showing part of the Caspian Sea.
Rob Denton awarded his prize of the Pocket Guide to Weather and Forecasting to Peter.

Dear Les,
In GEO Quarterly No 11, September 2006,
page 44, Robert Moore published aninteresting image of an unusual dark patternsurrounding Ireland and the south-easternregions of Great Britain. He ends his article
wondering if any readers have any ideas about
the odd event.
I am a GEO reader with no ideas and no
explanation to give him, but I have always
been struck by the dark areas in the expanseof water made bright by the reflection ofsunlight.
At the same time, I have always thought that,when the VIS or near IR sensors of thesatellites show a dark water area, this implies asmooth surface. Dealing with Underwater
www.geo-web.org.uk

Waves, a NASA note states: ‘Where thesecurrents converge, the sea surface is moreturbulent and therefore brighter. Where thecurrents diverge, the surface is smoother anddarker, creating zones called slicks.’
Interpreting polar orbiting satellite imagery,Peter Wakelin wrote in 2002: ‘The roughnessof the sea usually means that sun-glint can beseen over at least a 10 degrees range oflatitude and often much more.’
I have selected some high-albedo images frommy archive which you may include in GEO
Quarterly (see four of Marciano’s images on
the opposite page).
Thank you for all you are doing for ourcommunity. 73.
Marciano Righini, I4MY

December 2006

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 12

A GOES-E image relayed by Meteosat-5 at 21:54 UT on November 22, 1994
showing sunglint on the Pacific Ocean. It was late spring in the southernhemisphere, one month before the summer solstice.

A GOES-E image relayed by Meteosat-5 at 12:56 UT on September 1, 1995
showing two hurricanes and sunglint on the Atlantic Ocean. There were still
three weeks to go before the autumnal equinox.

This channel-2 HRPT segment came from a NOAA-11 pass between 14:11
and 4:26 UT on July 29, 1993. The image shows the islands of Sardinia (Italy)
and Corsica (France) surrounded by sunglint. The variations in grey and thedark areas are due to variations in sea surface roughness.

This channel-2 HRPT NOAA-18 image obtained between 12:27-12:42 UT on
June 23, 2005 shows sunglint on the channel between Sicily and Tunisia withseveral brightness variations. The most apparent feature is an extensive darkarea on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Sicily and Sardinia.

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39

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

Alan Smith from Birkenhead, Merseyside captured this fine summer image ofGreenland in an early afternoon NOAA-17 pass on August 28 this year using
his Vierling ‘Weatherman’ system with a roof-mounted QFH antenna.

John Wills from Cyprus received this NOAA-18 image of the Middle-East at
11:14 UT on February 24, 2006, which includes a fierce dust storm blowing
northward from Egypt over the Mediterranean Sea.

Another NOAA-18 image from John Wills, this one dating from 09:01 UT on
April 16, 2006. From left to right, the southern Caspian Sea, Aral Sea and Lake

Balkhash all show prominently. At lower right, in Tajikistan, are the snowcovered Pamirs, several of which rise to over 7000 metres.

40

www.geo-web.org.uk

December 2006

Group for Earth Observation

GEO Quarterly No 12

Douglas Deans - dsdeans@tiscali.co.uk
After a number of false starts, Europe's firstpolar orbiting meteorological satellite has beenlaunched. The MetOp-2 launch took placefrom Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on
19th October at 16.28 UTC. The successfully
orbited satellite is now known as MetOp-A.
This is the first of three satellites for the
Eumetsat Polar System (EPS) and is theEuropean contribution to the Initial Joint Polar
Orbiting Operational Satellite System (IJPS).
Eumetsat will provide the morning orbit
satellites. MetOp-A has a huge range of
instruments on-board and through the
Eumetcast system it will be possible to receive
global, yes worldwide, data of the highest
resolution. Exciting times indeed.
It is expected that the first trial MetOp-A data
through the Eumetcast system will start during
December although this is subject to theprogress of commissioning. What software canwe look forward to for this data ? I had a chatwith the one person who could help and here
is what David Taylor had to say:
‘MetOp-A offers unique opportunities for thosewith a EUMETCast system. Not only will there
be near-real-time data like that presently
available from NOAA-17 and NOAA-18, but afull data stream delayed by one orbit from allover the world. It will be rather like having the
CLASS archive on your own hard disc.
‘However, with the new satellite have comecompletely new transmission systems anddata formats, and it is not yet completely clear
how each of the data streams will beprocessed by EUMETSAT before being madeavailable to the users. It may be possible toadapt some existing software for the new data
while retaining the existing features andthermal calibration, although the world-wide
data will require some sort of archive andlibrary system which will be a completely new
requirement for HRPT users‘Software for MetOp has been underdevelopment for some time and is working wellwith test data kindly made available by
EUMETSAT, and it is hoped that by the timereal data is available upgrades and new
programs to handle the new data formats will
be available.’
So there it is straight from the horse's mouth(sorry David). By the time the next quarterly
journal is due in March next year, I expect
there may well be a number of important
additions to the software library for me toreport on. Time to get your list amended for
Father Christmas !

Write to the address below requesting
GS1, GS2, GS3, GS4 or GS5. Prices
are £5 for any single CD, 2 for £8, 3 for£11, 4 for £14 or all 5 for £17. Please
enclose cash or cheque (made payable
to Douglas Deans - not GEO please)for the appropriate amount. Nothingelse is required.

CD1
GeoSatSignal v 6.0.2
Kepler Manager v 1.2.8
WXtrack v 3.5.8
GroundMap v 2.0.4
MSG Animator v 2.5.2
AVHRR Manager v 1.2.6
HRPT Reader v 2.6.6
CD2
APTDecoder v 1.03.72

All D avi d Taylor's weather satelli te programs and li brari es, i ncludi ng the current releases of WXtrack,
GS1 Satsi gnal, HRPT Reader, GeoSatsi gnal, GroundMap, RX2 PassC ontrol and many other program extras.
Thi s di sc also contai ns a large quanti ty of sample fi les, many of hi gh-resoluti on data, for use wi th these
programs.
AVHRR Manager
Processes and manages the fi les for HRPT vi a EUMETC ast
v 1.2.6
GeoSatSi gnal

Mani pulates Geostati onary weather satelli te i mages

v 6.0.2

GRIB Vi ewer

Vi ewer for GRIB format fi les

v 2.0.8

GroundMap

Rescales satelli te i mages

v 2.0.4

HRPT Reader

C onverts raw HRPT data fi les i nto i mages

v 2.6.6

Kepler Manager

Organi ses fi les of 2-li ne element data

v 1.2.8

MSG Ani matorv 2.5.2

RX2 PassC ontrol

Automati c ani mati on of MSG i mages followi ng recepti on
Processes and manages the fi les recei ved from MSG
satelli tes
C omputer control program for the RX2 recei verv 3.0.8

SatSi gnal

C reates i mages from wave fi les

v 5.0.2

WXtrack

Satelli te Tracki ng Programv 3.5.8

MSG D ata Manager

v 2.5.2

A wi de range of software for all aspects of weather satelli te recepti on, i ncludi ng tracki ng, recei vi ng,
GS2 moni tori ng and i mage mani pulati on. C ontent i s detai led below but many other extras are provi ded. Ti tles
correspond wi th folder names. * i mpli es a D OS program.
C ollecti on D 02
Recall (wave fi le recorder), Palette (modi fi es Wxsat colour palettes).
Scanner recorder v 1.8 (wave fi le recorder), *NOAA95/*FENG99 (software
C ollecti on D 03
for the NOAA 95 HRPT project)
Wxsat (wave fi le recorder/decoder), Satmon (wave fi le
C ollecti on D 04
v 2.59recorder).
AGSatTrack
Satelli te tracki ng programv 1.33
APTD ecoder

How to Purchase CDs

Not much else to report this quarter. There are
a number of program updates, but not of
sufficient change to merit a write up. I havelisted below the programs which have been
updated and as always are available from thecurrent CD library.

C i rki t
Element Manager

Program for capturi ng APT audi o and processi ng i mages
v 1.0.3.72
D ocuments for the C i rki t Wxsat recei ver and the UOSat recei ver (PD F
format)2-li ne element manager
v 1.59

Footpri nt

Satelli te tracki ng programv 2.10Irfan Vi ew

Image/sli deshow vi ewerv 3.80v 1.40 pre

JVcomm32

Evaluati on versi on (APT/FAX/SSTV decoder)

Maci ntosh kepler edi tor

Edi ts verbose AMSAT format elements. Mac OS X and OS9 only.

NeoPai nt

Image processi ng program (30 day evaluati on)

Orbi tron

Satelli te Tracki ng ProgramPai ntshop Pro

Image processi ng program (30-day evaluati on)

PhotoFi ltre

Image retouchi ng program wi th many extras

v 3.70v 6.1.5

The cost includes CDs, packaging,posting and a small donation towards
the cost of overheads. No fee is asked
from overseas members although an
exchange of software or interestingsatellite images is always welcome.

Satelli te tracker and wave fi le recorder
v 2.02enerates TLE fi les i n 'C elestrak' style from data sets recovered fromSpace-Track TLE Retri ever GSpace Track
Spli tter
Uti li ty program for spli tti ng and reuni ti ng large fi les
WAV fi le recordi ng and decodi ng program wi th many
WXtoImgv 2.7.3
opti ons.

Orders are normally dispatched on the
day of receipt.

3D EM Package for 3D Terrain Visualisation
GS3 Thi s C D i ncludes the full set of GLOBE Ti les to allow you to produce excellent i mages and flybys from
HRPT i nages. Also i ncluded i s a selecti on of Mars MOLA fi les, sample i mages and helpful gui des by Ed
Murashi e.

Order your CDs from:
Douglas Deans, 17 Montrose Way,
Dunblane, Perthshire FK15 9JL,
Scotland.

Satscape

Image C D
GS4 A wi de selecti on of hi gh-resoluti on remote i mages from a range of satelli tes, i ncludi ng stunni ng i magery
from the Space Shuttle mi ssi ons. A full descri pti on and source i f provi ded for each i mage.
Mars R over Panoramics
GS5 A chronologi cal account, i n panorami c i mages, of the NASA Mars Rovers' progress across the Marti an
Terrai n

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41

GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

On May 23, 2006, Flight Engineer Jeff Williams contacted
the Alaska Volcano Observatory from the International
Space Station to report that Cleveland Volcano was
producing a plume of ash. Shortly after activity began hetook this photograph showing the plume moving westsouthwest from the volcano’s summit at an altitude of some6000 metres above sea level.
Cleveland Volcano, with a summit elevation of 1,730
metres, is situated on the western half of Chuginadak
Island, and is one of the most active volcanoes in the
Aleutian Islands. It is a stratovolcano, composed ofalternating layers of hardened lava, compacted volcanicash, and volcanic rocks. This volcano is the highest in
the Islands of the Four Mountains group.

Tracking Lightning on the Web
Continued from page ...32

defined by the colours used forstrike visualisation. The actual
number of strikes per time interval
is only written on to the highestbar.

Astronaut photograph ISS013-E-24184 was acquired May 23, 2006, witha Kodak 760C digital camera using an 800 mm lens, and is provided by
the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and the Image Science &Analysis Group, Johnson Space Center.

Alarms and City Locations
Finally, if you wish, click the‘Alarm’ button to activate audible
alarms. By default, this is set to‘none’, but you have the choice ofusing a PC loudspeaker alert orplaying a favoured wave filethrough your soundcard andtriggered by the number of lightning
strikes and their range. City
locations can be added/altered byediting the text file cities.txt which
resides in the program folder. Eachline in this file consists of four

42

www.geo-web.org.uk

Magma that feeds eruptions of ash and lava fromCleveland Volcano is generated by the northwestward
movement of the Pacific Plate beneath the North American
Plate. As one tectonic plate moves beneath another,melting of materials above and within the lower plateproduces magma that can eventually move to the surface
and erupt through a volcanic vent. Cleveland Volcano
claimed the only known eruption-related fatality in the
Aleutian Islands, in 1944.

December 2006

items, ‘Location name’, ‘Latitude’,‘Longitude’ and ‘Display’. The final
item determines how the location isdisplayed:
0 not shown
1 shown on Europe overview
map only
2 shown on the country maps
Conclusions
Having tried this software over the
past few weeks, I find it anexcellent program that works withvery little setting up for your homelocation, and provides excellent
results from the participating
stations
References
1 http://www.isleofwightweather.co.uk/
live_storm_data.htm
2 http://441creative.com/weather/stormvue/

Francis Bell
Some readers may remember my light hearted
comments in a previous quarterly—GEO
Quarterly No 8, page 2—about bad weather andnatural disasters following Nadine and myself
holidaying around the world. This time events
caught up with us.
We both like to travel and occasionally enjoy acruise, usually just for one or two weeks.
However, this time we booked a transatlantic
cruise lasting 24 days. Usually I find days at sea
tiresome but what I do enjoy are the different
ports of call, just treating the ship as a floating
hotel. There was a trade-off this time, with days
at sea being mitigated by visiting ports on theeast coast of Canada and the USA, including
New York. Also, our friends had booked the samecruise so the decision was made: we will go.
Now I know autumn weather in the northAtlantic can be a bit variable but I did not
anticipate the stormy weather we actuallyencountered. This was compounded by the poor
decision-making on behalf of the ship’s operator
to cope with this adverse weather.
A cruise ship’s itinerary will usually be run on atight schedule anticipating their pre-booked portsof call; hence there is little time for contingency
plans or changes of course while at sea. This
tends to lock the ship into an inflexible preplanned course and time schedule. This was thedownfall of our particular cruise.
Weather forecasting for the north Atlantic must
be intense, backed by satellite data, ships
relaying their data and fixed recording stations.
The British, French, Canadians and Americans
all provide detailed weather forecasts for thispart of the Atlantic ocean. The important word
here is forecast: not just giving the relevant
parameters for the present but forecasting thepattern of expected changes for days into the
future. Ships need this information. Immense
resources and effort go into this process for the
benefit of ‘those in peril on the sea’.
Our outward cruise plan was to sail from
Falmouth UK to St John’s Newfoundland, withthe ship following the great circle route definedalmost exactly by the line of latitude 50°N. I
didn’t know this at the time but this course wasto take us into the eye of two ferocious storms.
This was folly on the part of the cruise operator
because, in the short time scales with which wewere dealing, weather forecasts would haveidentified the potential meteorological hazards.
These forecasts were apparently ignored.
Two days out from Falmouth we encountered our
first storm . This was an intense depression andThis NOAA-18 image shows the intense north Atlantic depression at 13:58 UT
on September 12, 2006, when the ship’s position was very close to 50°N, 20°W.
Image: NOAA CLASS Archive (www.class.noaa.gov)

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GEO Quarterly No 12Group for Earth Observation

December 2006

the ship sailed straight into its centre. I find it difficult tojudge wave heights although I did hear a figure of 10 metres
quoted: whatever their height they were frightening. As
cruise ships go, our vessel the MV Athena is quite small,about 16,000 tonnes, hence those violent conditions
generated dramatic and dangerous movement of the ship. In
addition to the periodic movement of the ship, which aftersome time could be anticipated, there were occasions whenunpredictable violent shocks were sent through the vessel.
Anything on board that wasn’t screwed down or otherwise
secured went flying. I mean just that: furniture, bottles andtable-tops all crashing through the lounge bars and public
places. Unfortunately, this meant human beings as well.
One passenger was catapulted through the air down a six
step stairwell and killed while many others sustained lesser
injuries. Many cabins were damaged and there was some
ingress of sea water into our own cabin.
After passing through this storm some degree of normality
was restored until, two days later, we ran into hurricane
Florence. Technically it had by then been downgraded by theAmericans to extratropical storm Florence. Wow! A rerun of
the conditions experienced during the previous storm foranother two days.
By now the whole cruise itinerary was wrecked because thestorm delays had put us several days behind schedule; hence
several ports in Canada and the USA were missed. On abrighter note, we did enjoy two and a half days in New York
doing the typical tourist activities.

Above: the surface pressure chart for the north Atlantic for
12:00 UT on September 13, 2006 clearly showing the two
low pressure storm centres mentioned in the text.

Now for the final act of folly. The cruise operators decided
we would return to Falmouth using a route following closely
the ship’s outward course. The original itinerary should havetaken us via the Azores. I expected this to be a relief fromstorms because the Azores high pressure area is well definedand predictable calm seas may be anticipated. This was not
to be. For logistical reasons the cruise operators wanted toreturn using a more northerly route: never mind about theitinerary, just get back to Falmouth on time.
There followed an eventful eastward passage homeward as
we followed a course in the wake of storm Florence,
encountering the waves it had created. Then, in the mid
Atlantic, we met two more depressions with their associatedhigh seas. Severe movements of the ship continued but
fortunately there were no more injuries and all thepassengers and crew who did get back to Falmouth wererelieved
Sometimes when going on holiday I take my portable
weather satellite receiving station with me. This time I just
took my handheld scanner and a laptop computer to keep me
occupied during those days at sea. Out of interest, I did
listen to some satellite passes but I had no way of displaying
the images on the laptop. If I had been able to do thisperhaps I might have been able to influence some of thereckless ill-informed decision making to which we were all
unnecessarily exposed.
I am now researching weather satellite archives to piece
together a comprehensive meteorological story of the cruise.
Perhaps the folly which I expect to reveal and document may
influence cruise operators in the future.
No sympathy is necessary for Nadine and myself. We havethe good fortune to be home safely and we are resilient andstand by our personal decision making. Others passengers
were not so fortunate and one did not return!
The cruise ship was ‘Athena’ registered in Portugal, theship’s operator was Classic International Cruises based in
Portugal and the tour operator was Travelscope Holidays
Ltd, a UK travel operator.

44

This NOAA-18 image shows extratropical storm ‘Florence’ off
Newfoundland at 15:19 UT on September 14, 2006 when the ship’s
position was close to 47°N, 43°W

www.geo-web.org.uk

Image: NOAA CLASS Archive (www.class.noaa.gov)