Defense Department opts to not end satellite data for storm forecasts

UPI

3 days ago

An infrared satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean shows Hurricane Dorian on Sept. 6, 2019, as a Category 2 hurricane. U.S. Navy photo via Naval Research Laboratory
July 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Department won't end the dispersal of key satellite weather data on Friday as planned.
One month ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published a notice about the change by the U.S. Navy, effective July 1. Then NOAA said the change would be delayed by one month until Thursday.
In an update posted Wednesday, the phase-out plans were pushed back one year.
"The Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) has announced plans to continue distribution of Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) data beyond July 31, 2025," the update said. "As a result, there will be no interruption to DMSP data delivery."
With the peak hurricane season underway, forecasters with the National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center, media outlets, private meteorologists and weather watchers had expressed concern about not getting the satellite imagery.
"Crisis averted," Michael Lowry, a meteorologist at the Storm Surge Unit of the National Hurricane Center, posted on Blue Sky, noting it "means our hurricane forecast tools should stay intact."
A U.S. Space Force spokesperson said in a statement that the satellites and instruments are functional and that the Department of Defense will continue to use them.
A U.N. Navy official told ABC News that plans were to "phase out the data as part of the Defense Department modernization effort," but pushed it back after feedback and a "way to meet modernization goals while keeping the data flowing until the sensor fails or the program formally ends in September 2026."
For 40 years, the Pentagon has operated satellites for atmospheric and ocean conditions. Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder Sensors onboard three DMSP satellites will be turned off.
The satellites gather multiple wavelengths of light, including visible, infrared and microwave, Kim Wood, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Arizona, told Scientific American.
Microwaves are used to monitor hurricanes, Wood said, "because the waves are so long they get through the tops of the clouds" and help scientists to understand a storm's inner workings, especially those that occur at night.
With the real-time data, hurricane experts can see where the center of a storm forms, and hence figure out the direction where it could be headed, including land.
They can see when a new eyewall forms, which helps determine intensity. That was done with Hurricane Erick earlier this month in the Pacific Ocean.
The Navy uses data to track conditions for its ships.
"It's not an issue of funding cuts," Mark Serreze, the director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, a federally funded research center in Colorado, told NPR. "There are cybersecurity concerns. That's what we're being told."
Nevertheless, the Trump administration has been making cuts to the federal agencies with dealing with weather.
The National Hurricane Center, which is overseen by NOAA, didn't expect less-accurate forecasts.
"NOAA's data sources are fully capable of providing a complete suite of cutting-edge data and models that ensure the gold-standard weather forecasting the American people deserve," NOAA communications director Kim Doster told NPR. NOAA and NASA also operate satellites that are used for forecasts.
The hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 with six so far named in the Pacific and three so far in the Atlantic.