Satellites represent a platform for remote sensing. Scientists must keep the accuracy of these remote sensing instruments high or the measurements will not mean much and thus will not be used. Measurements are taken by a radiometer and generally for a few square kilometer area. Quite different from surface-based point measurements. Describe the climate for particular applications.
Derived data is better than the actual observed data.
Used to infer past climatic conditions before climate records, tree rings, pollen, ice cores, paleogeological surveys. Weather varies from day to day and climate differs from region to region because of variations in the amount, intensity, and spatial distribution over the earth of the weather and climate elements. The climatic elements vary temporally and spatially because of the operation of the climatic controls. The most fundamental control of both weather and climate is the unequal heating and cooling of the atmosphere in different parts of the earth. Large-scale climate controls influence temperature and precipitation in all locations.