An introduction to satellite-based applications and research for understanding climate change

Abstract

The use of satellite data in applications has changed as the environmental community has become more sophisticated deriving products from the remotely sensed measurements. This introduction summarizes the changes from the first satellites where the images were used to improve cloud forecasts to the international coordination groups that have formed to improve collaboration and data sharing of satellite observations. This introduction also addresses some of the key challenges associated with using satellite data for both weather and climate; the challenges include calibration, derived products, trend uncertainty, and measurement quality. A short discussion of subsequent future issues is briefly discussed as satellite measurement calibration reaches maturity.