NESDIS 2022 Accomplishments

NOAA achieved important decision milestones to advance our next-generation satellite systems and instruments to better predict the weather on Earth as well as in space. 

NOAA’s future Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) mission, NOAA’s next generation of geostationary satellites after the GOES-R Series that will continue and expand Earth observations from geostationary orbit, received formal program approval from the Department of Commerce deputy secretary following the Milestone 2 Review Board on Dec. 12. The GeoXO program is now approved to proceed to the development phase of the mission. GeoXO’s advanced capabilities will help address our changing planet and the evolving needs of NOAA’s data users through improved observations for weather forecasting and new ocean and atmospheric measurements. The first GeoXO satellite is scheduled to launch in 2032.

NOAA’s Office of Projects, Planning, and Analysis (OPPA) met several significant space weather milestones. Under OPPA’s direction, the Space Weather Next (SW Next) program completed a joint Mission Concept Review/System Requirements Review, NASA Key Decision Point 0, and DOC Milestone 1. NESDIS established a new NOAA-NASA partnership to jointly implement space weather programs under a new Space Weather Observations Programs Division (SWO) of the Flight Projects Directorate at NASA Goddard. These milestones establish the path forward for the next generation of space weather observatories. SWFO completed all L1 mission Critical Design Reviews (CDRs), confirming that the mission is on track for the scheduled launch in 2025. The completed CDRs included a comprehensive review of the system as a whole and each of its components: the SWFO-L1 spacecraft, the Compact Coronagraph (CCOR), the Solar Wind Plasma Sensor (SWiPS), the SupraThermal Ion Sensor (STIS), the Magnetometers, and all supporting ground elements. SWFO-L1 will monitor the emergence and strength of solar storms that affect our technology infrastructure on Earth and in Space including electricity distribution, telecommunication networks, and space operations for satellites and human safety in space. SWFO also completed the delivery and integration of a CCOR instrument onto GOES-U, for launch in 2024. Both CCOR instruments on GOES-U and SWFO-L1 respectively will image the outer layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, known as the corona, and help detect and characterize coronal mass ejections.

The QuickSounder Milestone 1 Review was successfully conducted on August 23, and later in December, the Decision Authority approved the QuickSounder Project to proceed to Milestone 2.   NOAA’s QuickSounder project is a pathfinding mission that will help inform the future of the Near Earth Orbit Network (NEON) Program, and as a secondary benefit, provide valuable additional microwave sounding data from the early morning orbit to JPSS satellite data users before JPSS-3 launches.

Another way NOAA satellites have helped continue NOAA’s mission is by constantly tracking major weather events throughout 2022, which included hurricanes and other severe storms, droughts, fires, volcanic eruptions, and floods. The vital data collected has helped forecasters to make predictions, as well as save lives and property.

Despite an average number of named storms, this Atlantic hurricane season was the third-costliest on record. In all, there were 14 named storms (winds of 39 mph or greater), of which eight became hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or greater) and two—Fiona and Ian—intensified into major hurricanes with winds greater than 111 mph.

Hurricane Ian caused more than $50 billion in damages and at least 145 deaths as it moved across the Caribbean, Florida, and later South Carolina, ranking as the fifth-deadliest Atlantic hurricane of the past 60 years. Hurricane Fiona brought major destruction to Puerto Rico and Canada. It hit eastern Nova Scotia as a hurricane-strength extratropical storm, becoming the costliest storm on record for Atlantic Canada, with insured damages of $495 million (USD).

A rare late-season hurricane, Nicole, made landfall in the Bahamas as a tropical storm on November 9 before hitting Vero Beach, Florida, on November 10 as a category 1 hurricane. It was the first November hurricane to hit the state from the east since 1935, and caused five deaths and at least $522 million in damages.  

This year, there were a total of  15 weather and climate disasters  in the United States with losses exceeding $1 billion each. These events included 2 tropical cyclone events, 10 severe storm events, 1 wildfire event, 1 drought event, and 1 flooding event. Overall, these events resulted in the deaths of 342 people and had significant economic effects on the areas impacted.

Over a dozen  billion-dollar disasters  occurred in FY 2022, ranging from hurricanes and severe flooding to wildfires and drought. The  NCEI Billion-Dollar Disaster and Risk Mapping tools  now include U.S. Census tract data, allowing users and decision-makers to visualize combined exposure, socioeconomic vulnerability, and markers of resilience to natural hazards at the community level.    

Users can now visualize combined physical exposure, socioeconomic vulnerability, and markers of resilience to natural hazards on a finer scale than ever before. These enhanced interactive maps provide data for over 72,000 U.S. Census tracts, which are small subdivisions of counties that average about 4,000 inhabitants.

NOAA satellites do more than just monitor the weather. They also detect and relay distress signals from emergency beacons to the appropriate search and rescue authorities as part of the Search And Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) System. This tells them who is in trouble and, more importantly, where they are located.

The  NOAA–SARSAT program  is part of COSPAS–SARSAT, an international satellite-based monitoring initiative to which 45 nations and independent search and rescue organizations belong. COSPAS stands for "COsmicheskaya Sisteyama Poiska Avariynich Sudov," Russian for “Space System for the Search of Vessels in Distress.”

This year is the  40th anniversary  of Russia launching the first experimental COSPAS–SARSAT satellite. Before it was even officially declared operational, the first distress signal was detected from a downed Canadian aircraft. Seven people were rescued using the system within the first hundred days of the satellite’s operation. Shortly after, NASA launched its own SARSAT payload on NOAA-8. The program has continued to grow ever since, and NOAA’s geostationary and some of their polar orbiting satellites currently participate in the program. Today, with newer, more advanced beacons and a global network of next-generation satellites, COSPAS–SARSAT strives to keep improving its ability to take the “search” out of “search and rescue” and ultimately save lives.  Thus far, SARSAT has directly contributed to the rescue of more than 55,000 lives worldwide, with more than 10,000 of those in the United States.

Each icon on this map represents one rescue event within the U.S. Area of Responsibility (AOR) in the last 14 months, though multiple saves may be involved with each event. 

The SARSAT system is able to detect three types of beacons: an individual’s Personal Locator Beacon (PLB), maritime Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs), and aircraft Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs). 

Who responds to the search and rescue are dictated by the location of the distress. For any beacon activation that occurs in the U.S. AOR, the U.S. is responsible for responding. If it is inland, the U.S. Air Force responds*, if it is at sea, the U.S. Coast Guard responds. 

If a device registered to another country is activated within the U.S. AOR, the U.S. is still responsible for the rescue but their homeport country will be notified of the event. All areas of the world are covered by COSPAS-SARSAT.

* _{If the distress occurs in the contiguous U.S. (lower 48), the response is coordinated by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) at Tyndall Air Force Base, FL. If it occurs in Alaska, the response is coordinated by the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center at Elmendorf Air Force Base, AK.} 

NOAA’s Earth Topography Global Relief Model ( ETOPO ) was updated this year and now brings greater, more accurate details to the geophysical characteristics of Earth’s surface. The update is the latest since ETOPO’s previous release in 2010.

The release of ETOPO 2022 adds enhanced resolution that incorporates recent advances in data sources and processing techniques. ETOPO 2022 uses a combination of numerous airborne lidar, satellite-derived topography, and shipborne bathymetry datasets from U.S. and global sources. Its predecessor, ETOPO1, has been an important modeling tool for the tsunami community since its introduction more than a decade ago. 

The model comes in two versions: Ice Surface, which depicts the surface of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets; and Bedrock, which depicts the bedrock underneath the ice sheets. Researchers use ETOPO models for many purposes, such as Tsunami forecasting, modeling, and warning; understanding tectonic formation and activity; visualizing ocean circulation, and exploring the effects of climate change.

Research using NOAA’s satellite climate data records has produced new insights on dramatic, multi-decadal changes in Arctic sea ice area, sea ice thickness, and volume for perennially and seasonally ice-covered areas, as well as gives a new estimate of when the Arctic may be ice-free in the summer. 

Sea ice is a critical part of the climate system through its interaction with the atmosphere and the ocean. It also plays an important role in marine ecosystems, navigation, and security. This new information provides a novel perspective on ice longevity to determine where ice is persistent and where it is disappearing, which directly influences arctic weather and climate, marine transportation, and ecosystems.  

Findings show that the Arctic has become less ice-covered in all seasons, however, summer and autumn stand out with the most changes. The loss of the perennial sea ice-covered area is the major factor in the total sea ice loss in all seasons. If the current rates of sea ice changes in extent, concentration, and thickness continue, the Arctic is expected to have ice-free summers by the early 2060s.

NOAA’s Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) developed a technique combining digital elevation maps with satellite images from the NOAA Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument to enhance flood products and mapping. This information is used by federal agencies to inform the public and decision-makers to help mitigate flood impacts. In 2022, NOAA’s downscaled flood maps were used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in response to Hurricanes Ian and Nicole to assess where flooding was occurring.

This year, the  NESDIS Wildland Fire Program Charter  was approved by the NESDIS Executive Council, which will be managed by the Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) with support from team members across line offices.

The program aims to accomplish three things: maintain a unified NESDIS approach to wildland fire; efficiently deliver information that can immediately support wildland fire activities like mitigating, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from fires; and manage wildland fire partnerships in coordination with the NOAA Fire Observation, Research, and Services Team, known as FOReST.

Additionally, the NESDIS Wildland Fire Program will serve as a test case on a new approach to delivering service to users, which aims to apply the best practices in service delivery from end to end by bringing together user engagement, science, and systems engineering expertise into a single multidisciplinary team. By doing this, the program aims to help users find the data they need through the application of the NOAA Service Delivery Framework more easily and efficiently.

NOAA’s Joint Venture program granted nine awards to engage the community in emerging technologies that may help meet NOAA’s future needs. The studies will assess the feasibility of partnering with other federal agencies, academia, or the commercial sector to develop promising innovative technologies for a Hyperspectral Microwave Sensor, Measuring 3D Winds, and an Earth Observation Digital Twin. NOAA also awarded three Commercial Weather Data Pilot space weather contracts in July. These near-real-time commercial data will characterize conditions that impact satellite operations, navigation, and communications. In addition, NOAA’s Commercial Data Program purchased its latest commercial radio occultation data with unlimited distribution rights, marking a significant shift towards open and free global data sharing.

NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service (NESDIS) awarded an Enterprise Cloud task order providing a flat-rate contract for egress capabilities and discounted storage services to meet operational requirements. The fixed-price nature will accelerate cloud migration, enable faster research-to-operations, and spur innovation as NESDIS pivots to the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in the cloud. Finally, this new cost structure allows NOAA to offer free and open data without the financial risk of pay-as-you-go egress.

NOAA successfully completed a year-long, first-ever Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Microsoft’s Azure Orbital, which explored how commercial capabilities could assist NOAA’s satellite operations by using commercial products and cloud operations to control the satellites and acquire data in a cyber-secure environment. The information gleaned from this CRADA will provide input to NOAA’s future strategic activities.

The CRADA was a “proof-of-concept” effort to determine if commercial cloud services can provide satellite mission management for NOAA’s legacy polar satellites. As a secondary objective, Azure demonstrated the ability to comply with some government security controls in both a rapid and effective manner. Under the CRADA, Azure Orbital demonstrated the capability to provide mission support for NOAA’s previous generation of polar-orbiting satellites, specifically NOAA-18. Azure Orbital used its cloud-native Microsoft Azure platform and its commercial Quincy Ground Station in Quincy, Washington to perform satellite communication and data downlink with NOAA-18. The CRADA also demonstrated cloud-based mission control payload data processing.      Additionally, its successful demonstration of commercial Ground Station as a Service (GSaaS) functionality led to a NESDIS contract to operationally support POES downlink and command and control functionality. This is a first-of-its-kind use for civilian satellite agencies.   

This year, a new partnership with Google allowed NESDIS to create a pilot program focused on improving satellite observations to help weather forecasts using cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). These techniques more efficiently sift through and judge the quality and relevance of data. Google has vast experience with machine learning and artificial intelligence applications, as well as with building cloud architectures for use in environmental data processing. The collaboration between NOAA and Google focused on both post-processing data as well as data simulation.