by The abrupt limit of the satellite data, which are decisive for the forecast of the hurricane, is delayed by a month until July 31. This is based on a message from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Monday.
The upcoming data loss of a satellite system from the Ministry of Defense was announced on June 25th and, according to an earlier NOAA announcement, “at the latest” on Monday “on Monday”.
The Ministry of Defense will continue to maintain the defense meteorological satellite program, but announced last week to share the pictures with NOAA and NASA.
The decision initiated by the Ministry of Defense led to a turmoil among meteorologists, civil servants and media in the middle of the hurricane season. The fear is that the lack of information could affect the accuracy of the hurricane forecasts. The move comes after steep personnel cuts in the national weather service and other parts of Noaa.
The data in question comes from a microwave sound data, which is called Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder or SSMIS. This tool is like 3D X-rays of tropical storms and hurricanes, which reveals where the strongest rain bands and winds are likely and how they change.
Such images offer the forecasters information about the inner structure of a storm and are one of the limited possibilities of how quickly and significantly the intensity of a storm changes, especially at night and in times when Hurricane Hunter aircraft do not fly in the storm.
According to a former NOAA employee who was familiar with the matter, the actions of the Ministry of Defense, together with NASA, surprised the nation’s weather and oceans, whose scientists also use these satellite images.
A current NOAA employee also announced that the agency, including the National Hurricane Center, blindly, when it was announced for the first time.
The delay until July, according to both sources, is the result of the pressure of NOAA and NASA officials. The new NOAA message supports this and says: “At the end of Friday, June 27, CNMOC received a request from Dr. Germain with NASA to move the distance and pass on the processing and distribution of DMSP data by July 31.”
“An update service consultant is sent and FNMOC now expects that the DMSP processing of DMSP will be canceled on July 31 at the latest,” says the message and refers to the navy fleet meteorology and oceanography center. The satellite status message refers to Karen M. St. Germain, Division Director of the Earth Science Division of NASA. This shows the intervention of a high -ranking official on this matter.
The delay of one month does not solve the problem because the hurricane season reaches its peak in August and September. Noaa is currently planning that these microwave pictures from this satellite will flow to the agency.
According to media reports in the past week, the Defense Ministry of Department for the abolition of this data has to do with cyber security problems that arise from the way the data between agencies is transmitted.
Noaa has publicly claimed that there are many other data sources to hurricanes that enable precise forecasts this season.
The Atlantic Hurricane season only ends on November 30th, and this season is expected to be another unusually active.
This is a developing history and is updated.
More CNN messages and newsletter create an account at CNN.com
