VAWS: Satellite Hydrological Products and their Utility in the Alaska Region

Speaking: Ralph Ferraro, NOAA

Virtual Alaska Weather Symposium

Passive microwave sensors on low earth orbiting satellites have the ability to monitor several parameters associated with the Earth’s hydrological cycle – falling precipitation, snow and ice parameters, soil moisture, etc. These observations are particularly useful for high latitude locations where geostationary satellites have limited coverage.

In this presentation, a review of the methodology used to retrieve this information will be given, then followed by several practical applications for weather forecasting and climate monitoring.