NESDIS Environmental Satellite Processing Center (ESPC) Support

The National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) operates the Nation’s civilian environmental satellites including geostationary satellites (GOES) and polar-orbiting satellites (POES). Imagery and other observations from these satellite systems are used by NOAA and other federal, state, local and international partners to predict the weather, track major storm systems including hurricanes, detect and monitor natural hazards such as volcanic plumes and forest fires, monitor global ocean temperature and to study a variety of environmental issues including global warming. In 2004, NESDIS undertook the goal of consolidating its separate GOES and POES satellite data processing operations into a single operation, the Environmental Satellite Processing Center (ESPC), in its new computational facility located in Suitland, MD and called the National Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF). ESPC operates the computational and telecommunications systems that receive satellite signals from GOES and POES satellites and process those signals into a set of several hundred environmental information products that are routinely and operationally distributed to the National Weather Service, Department of Defense, Federal Aviation Administration and numerous other users, domestic and international, who utilize those products for weather forecasting, emergency management, aviation transportation advisories, climate research, and a host of other uses.

A NESDIS program supporting future satellite systems’ data processing needs and new information products generation is NPOESS Data Exploitation (NDE). NDE capitalizes on scientific research conducted in NESDIS, federal agencies and academia to exploit the much higher resolution capabilities and data volumes anticipated for the next generation of satellite instruments that will be launched in the next decade.

RTi’s support for NESDIS and ESPC missions involves five main areas:

• In support of NDE goals, requirements definition, technology analysis, planning and engineering computer systems, telecommunications systems, and scientific algorithms for future generations of instruments on NOAA satellites.
• Migration of ESPC operational software from legacy computer systems to modern UNIX and Linux servers.
• Maintaining and upgrading software for the generation of environmental information products, including atmospheric ozone product, global sea surface temperature, and Hazards Monitoring System (HMS).
• Conducting 24X7 operational analyst support for detecting and monitoring satellite observed natural hazards including volcanic plumes, extreme weather events, sea ice and forest and brush fires.
• Developing software tools the routine monitoring, documenting, and distribution of reports of natural hazards.

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