To complete this homework, you'll need to use the internet to explore the content
of a couple websites.
Use http://www.thetech.org/hyper/satellite/home.html
for ?'s 1-6. You can also use the scroll buttons at the top of the website to
page through the site.
1. (2 pts) In the word geosynchronous, what do the parts "geo" and
"synchronous" mean?
2. (2 pts) Name the satellite the website mentions that is not looking at Earth.
What is it observing?
3. (2 pts) A satellite in geosychonous equatorial orbit (GEO) (also called geostationary orbit) is located directly above the equator, exactly __________miles, or (show your work below)___________km out in space. At that distance, it takes the satellite a full 24 hours to circle the planet. Since it takes Earth 24 hours to spin on in its axis, the satellite and Earth move together.(conversion: 1 mile = 1.61 km) You must show your work for the conversion below to get credit (so you can't just use your fancy calculator to do it).
4 . (1 pt) What type of satellites are most useful for areas near the poles?
5. (1 pt) What type of orbit do the TIROS satellites have?
6. (1 pt) What type of orbit do the GOES satellites have?
USE THIS WEBSITE TO ANSWER ?'s 7-10: http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/details.html
7. (1 pt) What is the major limitation of visible satellite imagery?
8. (2 pts) GOES-8 (or GOES east) is centered at ________degrees longitude above the equator, while GOES-10 (or GOES west) is centered at ________ degrees longitude. Be sure to include the W or E for longitude.
9. (1 pt) Infrared imagery indicates the height of what?
10. (1 pt) The water vapor image gives you the altitude of what?
11. (2 pts) Satellites that have circular (non-elliptical) orbits remain at almost exactly the same height above the earth at all times. (Small variations in height are due to topography and the fact that the earth is not a perfect sphere and bulges a bit near the equator.) A satellite "floats" at about the same elevation above earth because there is a balance between gravity trying to pull it towards the earth and the centrepetal force trying to launch it off into outer space. The pull of gravity on satelites is greater for those closer to the earth than farther away, so in order to remain in balance you must increase the centrepetal force. You can only increase centrepetal force by increasing the speed of the satellite.
Based on this, do satellites that are low-earth orbiting travel at faster or
slower speeds than those with higher orbits?
Should it take low-orbiters a longer or shorter time to orbit once around the
earth than higher-orbiters?
12. (2 pts) What is one advantages and disadvantage of using satellite derived soundings?
13. (2 pts) Go back to the conversions from Greenwich Mean Time. If Norman, Oklahoma is 5 hours behind Greenwich, England, would a visible satellite image be useful at 15Z? (Yes or No)