Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- About the editor
- List of contributors
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The art and science of large-scale disasters
- 3 Multiscale modeling for large-scale disaster applications
- 4 Addressing the root causes of large-scale disasters
- 5 Issues in disaster relief logistics
- 6 Large-scale disasters: perspectives on medical response
- 7 Augmentation of health care capacity in large-scale disasters
- 8 Energy, climate change, and how to avoid a manmade disaster
- 9 Seawater agriculture for energy, warming, food, land, and water
- 10 Natural and anthropogenic aerosol-related hazards affecting megacities
- 11 Tsunamis: manifestation and aftermath
- 12 Intermediate-scale dynamics of the upper troposphere and stratosphere
- 13 Coupled weather–chemistry modeling
- 14 Seasonal-to-decadal prediction using climate models: successes and challenges
- 15 Climate change and related disasters
- 16 Impact of climate change on precipitation
- 17 Weather-related disasters in arid lands
- 18 The first hundred years of numerical weather prediction
- 19 Fundamental issues in numerical weather prediction
- 20 Space measurements for disaster response: the International Charter
- 21 Weather satellite measurements: their use for prediction
- Epilogue
- Index
21 - Weather satellite measurements: their use for prediction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- About the editor
- List of contributors
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The art and science of large-scale disasters
- 3 Multiscale modeling for large-scale disaster applications
- 4 Addressing the root causes of large-scale disasters
- 5 Issues in disaster relief logistics
- 6 Large-scale disasters: perspectives on medical response
- 7 Augmentation of health care capacity in large-scale disasters
- 8 Energy, climate change, and how to avoid a manmade disaster
- 9 Seawater agriculture for energy, warming, food, land, and water
- 10 Natural and anthropogenic aerosol-related hazards affecting megacities
- 11 Tsunamis: manifestation and aftermath
- 12 Intermediate-scale dynamics of the upper troposphere and stratosphere
- 13 Coupled weather–chemistry modeling
- 14 Seasonal-to-decadal prediction using climate models: successes and challenges
- 15 Climate change and related disasters
- 16 Impact of climate change on precipitation
- 17 Weather-related disasters in arid lands
- 18 The first hundred years of numerical weather prediction
- 19 Fundamental issues in numerical weather prediction
- 20 Space measurements for disaster response: the International Charter
- 21 Weather satellite measurements: their use for prediction
- Epilogue
- Index
Summary
Severe weather can cause significant loss of life and property. Floods, droughts, tropical storms and hurricanes, severe thunderstorms and tornados, extreme hot or cold temperatures, extreme snowfall, and air pollution are major weather-related disasters facing humankind. In this chapter, we review how weather satellite measurements can be used to observe and predict some of these weather-related disasters. Included is a brief discussion of the importance of satellite data for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), which is a major international initiative to improve environmental predictions. Finally, a new geostationary satellite instrument concept is presented that, when implemented on the international system of geostationary satellites, would provide a major source of the atmospheric state data for the GEOSS.
Introduction
Weather-related disasters are a primary natural cause of life and property loss. As pointed out in a study by Lott and Ross (2006), the United States alone sustained more than $500 billion in overall inflation-adjusted damages and costs due to these events during the 1980 to 2005 period. Hurricane Katrina alone caused more than $100 billion in damage and more than 1,300 deaths. Within the United States, there are usually several hundred deaths each year due to severe thunderstorms and tornados, tropical storms and hurricanes, and heavy flooding.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Large-Scale DisastersPrediction, Control, and Mitigation, pp. 543 - 569Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008