Visible Satellite Imagery Vs Infrared
Visible satellite pictures can only be viewed during the day since clouds reflect the light from the sun.
Visible satellite imagery vs infrared. Thermal infrared and visible light cameras mounted on a robot arm as it approaches a model of a dead satellite as part of a demonstration of vision based navigation systems intended for esa s e. Not so with infrared imagery see the montage of images below. Hurricanes are basically powered by warm ocean waters and the ability to track the ocean a. Visible satellite images record visible light from the sun that is reflected by clouds land oceans or snow and ice.
Some infrared images are colored to resemble visible images upper left while others include all the colors of the rainbow. On these images clouds show up as white the ground is normally grey and water is dark. Since visible images record reflected light rather then emitted radiation they tell how reflective an object is but nothing about its temperature. Some satellites can capture images in both visible light and infrared weather satellites use the infrared images to show where the heat within storms are.
The temperature of the cloud will determine the wavelength of radiation emitted from the cloud. The following links for imagery are to servers maintained by the center for satellite applications and research star a division of the national environmental satellite data and information service nesdis. Miniature visible satellite image 42k a visible images measure scattered light and the example here depicts a wide line of clouds stretching across the southeastern united states and then northward into ontario and quebec. There are three main types of satellite images available.
You can advance the imagery by placing your cursor over the image and using your mouse s scroll wheel clicking the image and using the up and down. Miniature infrared satellite image 40k b in contrast infrared images are related to brightness. Visible vis satellite imagery and infrared ir imagery have different ways of detecting clouds. When you look at different visible satellite images you will notice that they pretty much all look the same.
Visible imagery is produced by the sun s rays reflecting off of clouds. There is an important difference between visible and infrared images. This website is supported on a monday friday basis so outages may occur without notice and may not be immediately resolved. Therefore the clouds over louisiana mississippi.
Infrared is produced by sensing the emitted radiation coming off of clouds.