The Suomi NPP satellite of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was able to collect satellite images of Earth’s vegetation in one year which will be used by another agency to forecast drought in the U.S.
The Suomi NPP in which NPP stands for National Polar-orbiting Partnership is a weather satellite launched in October 2011 and operated by the U.S National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . It is a joint project between NOAA, NASA, and the Department of Defense. It is currently managed by four projects scientists naming Project Scientist James Gleason, Deputy Project Scientist Christina Hsu, Chief Engineer Glenn Iona, and Deputy Project Scientist for Instruments and Calibration James J. Butler.
The Suomi NPP is the first in the latest systems of satellites projected to replace NASA’s Earth Observing System satellites that captures images of Earth’s moisture and temperature, ozone levels, wildfires, ice movement, changes in landforms, and cloud movement.
The satellite images shown by NOAA which the satellite gathered for one year was compiled in a video posted in the agency’s website. It shows Earth’s vegetation using the Visible-Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) technology of the satellite. The VIIRS is a radiometer designed to gather the infrared and visible light data to monitor wildfires, ice movement, and changes in landforms. A fluctuation in light indicates an activity on that part of the globe. These images where then combined with NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellite images which use Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) technology that captures the Earth’s surface images and vegetation as well.
The images captured by Suomi NPP will be utilized in numerous Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) products and services. The NDVI is a simple graphical marker which identifies whether the subject has live vegetation or none. This will be the fastest way for the scientists to see the Earth’s condition and predict possible drought in the future. Those with less vegetation or poor vegetation condition are most likely to have drought since the absence of vegetation indicates that there is no water in the soil to support plant growth. The NDVI data will be used by the National Drought Mitigation Center to forecast drought in the U.S.
There are also close-up images posted in NOAA’s website of the Florida Everglades, the Mississippi Delta, U.S Farmland and The Pacific Northwest including Idaho.
