Aging Satellite Fleet May Mean Gaps in Storm Forecasts

The article in the New York Times on the coming gaps in satellite weather coverage carefully avoids any mention the role George W. Bush in causing this. The closest they come is mentioning that the problems go back "a decade". They know that most people will have forgotten, if they ever were aware, of the truth. But I did remember. And the internet makes it possible to go back and get the information from that time. I also remember that it was clear that oil man Bush wanted to prevent the detection of climate change due to global warming.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/27/us/dying-satellites-could-lead-to-shaky-weather-forecasts.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY

By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr.
Published: October 26, 2012

The United States is facing a year or more without crucial satellites that provide invaluable data for predicting storm tracks, a result of years of mismanagement, lack of financing and delays in launching replacements, according to several recent official reviews.

The looming gap in satellite coverage, which some experts now view as almost certain to occur within the next few years, could result in shaky forecasts about storms like Hurricane Sandy, which is now expected to hit the Northeastern Seaboard early next week.

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Experiments show that without this kind of satellite data, forecasters would have underestimated by half the massive snowfall that hit Washington in the 2010 blizzard nicknamed “Snowmageddon.”

“We cannot afford to lose any enhancement that allows us to accurately forecast any weather event coming our way,” said Craig J. Craft, commissioner of emergency management for Nassau County, Long Island, where the great hurricane of 1938 hit without warning and killed hundreds. On Thursday, Mr. Craft was seeking more precise forecasts for the looming storm and gearing up for possible hospital and nursing home evacuations, as were ordered before Hurricane Irene last year. “Without accurate forecasts it is hard to know when to pull that trigger.”

Experts have grown increasingly alarmed in the past two years because the existing polar satellites are nearing or beyond their life expectancies, and the launching of the next replacement, known as JPSS-1, has slipped until early 2017, probably too late to avoid a gap of at least a year.

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The Joint Polar Satellite System also includes important sensors for studying the global climate, and these too are at risk.

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From 2004:

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/08/con04341.html

August 18, 2004

Bush Cancels Funding for Important Weather Satellite Program

by Captain Wayne R. Genthner

As a local charter boat captain I have a necessary familiarity with the remote sensing instrumentation employed by NASA and NOAA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. These agencies provide some of the most valuable tools professionals such as myself rely on to make a living. My academic background is in meteorological science, which comes in quite handy and I apply that basic knowledge on a daily basis with help from NOAA to create working forecasts of weather conditions at sea. I depend on my experience at sea and on the derived meteorological products from key satellite systems to keep my clients and myself safe. However, you don't have to be a sea going captain to understand the importance of accurate weather forecasting services. It is of grave concern to me that the public is now exposed to a clear and present danger posed by the shut down of the TRMM satellite program. TRMM is an orbiting surveillance platform, which observes and reports important information needed to make sound weather forecasts. TRMM provides sea surface temperature and sea height data, which is factored into the statistical forecasting models, which estimate hurricane growth potential and direction of travel. The TRMM satellite program has been used for over a decade in successful forecasts of intensity and tracking for tropical systems like Hurricane Charley. To the dismay of working professionals, coastal residents and the world science community, funding for this vital program has been terminated by the Bush administration, even as these scientists argue that we are now handicapping our ability to deliver concise warnings of impending hurricane landfalls. The premature closure of this very valuable weather forecasting mission is certainly not laudable given our present circumstances.

The problem with TRMM is not technical; it is all about reassigned budget priorities to accommodate the president's vision of manned space exploration. In the absence of the political will to continue the program a decision was made to implement the controlled de-orbiting of this perfectly good life saving satellite. All because the mere $28 million to $36 million needed to operate the system for another two years could not be found in the new working budget shared between NASA and the Japanese space agency with whom we are in partnership.

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http://www.leftinalabama.com/diary/8165/obama-moves-to-restor-funding-for-noaa-satellites-gop-congress-cut-as-luxury-america-cant-afford

Obama Moves to Restore $$$ for Weather Satellites GOP Congress Cut as "Luxury America Can't Afford"

Mon May 09, 2011

Mary Orndoff correctly reports that President Obama is asking Congress to restore funding for the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) which would provide forecasters with precise information on storms like the ones that devastated Alabama on April 27th.

"Under current funding scenarios, the JPSS-1 mission could be delayed by up to two years, thus forcing the weather forecasting community to rely solely on satellites that will be operating well past their planned mission life," John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told Congress last week.

Work on the satellite slowed when Congress this spring made deep cuts in the fiscal year 2011 budget, he said. So President Barack Obama's administration is asking for a $1.1 billion increase for 2012 to get things back on track. The money is targeted for NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

What is missing from this report is the fact that every Republican Congressperson from Alabama voted to eliminate funding for those satellites. They were one of those "luxuries" that America just can't afford anymore in the Republican view. The GOP budget plan is the reason these satellites are now behind schedule.

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It's amusing to watch GOPpers like Spencer Bachus (R, AL-06) scrambling to cover their asses by now supporting increased funding for advanced weather satellites. They just got a lesson in what is and is not a "luxury."