Had it not been for polar-orbiting satellites, NOAA's forecasts of Hurricane Sandy's track could have been hundreds of miles off, scientists say. Rather than indicating five days in advance that Sandy would make landfall on 29 October 2012 (left), the forecasting models would have shown the hurricane remaining at sea (right). Graphic: NOAA

By DYLAN WALSH
18 February 2013 (The New York Times) – A new report from the Government Accountability Office elevates the problem of looming gaps in satellite weather data to a “high risk” concern for the federal government The G.A.O.’s high-risk report, updated every two years to coincide with each new Congress, focuses on federal programs that provide essential public services, often at great cost, but operate with a pronounced ineffectiveness or inefficiency. Areas like Medicare, military contracting, and tax law enforcement have resided on the list continuously since its inception in 1990. The relatively low-profile addition of weather satellites last week underscores growing concerns about short-term and midrange satellite weather observations and forecasts in the United States and across the globe. The report notes that the United States relies on two types of satellite systems for observations and forecasts: polar-orbiting satellites that provide a global perspective every morning and afternoon and geostationary satellites that maintain a fixed view of the United States. Federal agencies are currently involved in efforts to replace systems of both types that are approaching the end of their estimated life spans. “However, these programs have troubled legacies of cost increases, missed milestones, technical problems and management challenges that have resulted in reduced functionality and slips to planned launch dates,” the G.A.O. report says. “As a result, the continuity of satellite data is at risk.” Jérôme Lafeuille, chief of the World Meteorological Organization’s space observation program, warned in an interview that if a satellite failed before a new system was in place, forecasting could be seriously impeded. “It’s not that you wouldn’t have anything,” he said, “but you could lose something like 35 or 40 percent of the input data for the models.” [more]

Report Points to Risk of Serious Gap in Weather Satellite Data