Information on receiving these images is available at the Polar Orbital Weather Satellite Pictures Homepage . NOAA Techical Documentation , including NOAA Polar Orbiter Data User's Guide NOAA KLM User's Guide Most polar orbiter sites are sites that are associated with receivers that receive the images that were taken over the area near the site. Types of Images Visible Visible images show the visible light that is reflected off of clouds and the surface of the earth. They show all types of clouds and are the best type of images for seeing low level systems, which do not show up well on infrared imagery. Infrared Infrared imagery shows the amount of heat emitted by the different cloud features and the surface of the earth.
Infrared images show clouds at higher levels better because they are colder.
This is done so that the images look similar to visible images. Enhanced Infrared Enhanced infrared images are simply infrared infrared images with the coldest areas in colors so that the different temperatures can be distinguished from each other. This is often good for showing the height of clouds which is important for determining the strenth of systems in the tropics. Many infrared images are enhanced, and not all enhanced infrared images are labled as such in this page. Water Vapor Water Vapor images are images that show water vapor in the upper troposphere.