“Inside Science” Highlights Satellite Meteorology
“Inside Science TV,” an independent news service produced by the American Institute of Physics, has posted a video that highlights UW-Madison satellite meteorology.
Studies of the Earth’s weather and climate from space began with an instrument designed by UW-Madison professors Verner Suomi and Robert Parent that was launched on the Explorer 7 satellite in 1959. This instrument measured the energy that reaches Earth from the sun and the energy the planet radiates back into space. The difference between the two is the solar energy that Earth absorbs. Since that time, SSEC at the UW-Madison has been at the forefront of satellite meteorological studies, as illustrated in this timeline.
The video features an interview with Steve Ackerman, Director of CIMSS, and several shots of Tim Schmit (NOAA) and Jordan Gerth (SSEC/CIMSS Graduate Student) working in the CAVE (CIMSS Analysis and Visualization Environment), a media-rich research and presentation facility.