Tags: NASA, ISRO, Weather Satellite, Hurricane, NOAA
Publication: IndianExpress.com
Publication Date: 11/01/2012

Ocean surface winds for Hurricane Sandy observed at 9:00 p.m. PDT Oct. 28 by the OSCAT radar scatterometer on the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) OceanSat-2 satellite. Image credit: ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA and weather and climate scientists all over the world have been receiving help from India’s Space Applications Center (SAC) to track Hurricane Sandy. The Indian Space Research Organization’s OSCAT radar scatterometer, which travels on board its OceanSat-2 satellite, has been sending valuable image data at near-real time to NASA and NOAA.

OSCAT, designed and developed at SAC, Ahmedabad, is similar to the now defunct QuikSCAT satellite from NASA. Since QuikSCAT ceased operations in 2009, engineers and scientists from NOAA, JPL and NASA have worked with ISRO to validate and calibrate OSCAT measurements to ensure seamless coverage of ocean vector winds, critical for the global climate weather forecasting field.

ISRO’s OceanSat-2, together with NASA’s Cloudsat satellite and Aqua and Terra spacecraft, played a critical role in helping track Superstorm Sandy.

 Full story