Question 5

How does the resolution of a field of view vary with wavelength for the NOAA POES sensors and what might be some of the implications? (Click the button for the best answer below.)

a) Resolution is the same from the visible to the infrared and microwave, allowing for direct comparison of features in all channels.
b) Resolution is highest in the visible and microwave, and poorest in the infrared making product generation problematic.
c) Resolution is highest for the visible, but becomes progressively poorer in the infrared and microwave like for GOES. POES data and products therefore look very similar to those available from GOES.
d) Resolution is highest for visible and infrared imaging, poorest in the microwave. Matching resolution between all visible and infrared channels allows for more accurate and direct comparisons and improved product generation.

Discussion

d) is the correct response.

Fields of view for all visible and infrared imaging channels onboard NOAA polar satellites are 1.1 x 1.1 km at the satellite subpoint. This has important implications in channel-to-channel comparison and in the generation of derived products. A field of view for the infrared sounder (HIRS/3) is 19 km and for the microwave sounder (AMSU) 12 and 48 km (12 km for AMSU-A, 48 km for AMSU-B). The increased spatial resolution of the AMSU sounding channels is improving depictions of mesoscale temperature and moisture fields. This has implications for the improvement of model initial analyses and short-term forecasts affected by data-sparse regions.