ITT's Weather Satellite Technology Prepares for U.S. Hurricane Season
June 08 2006 - 11:32AM
PR Newswire (US)
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., June 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hurricane
season officially began on June 1, and national forecasters predict
another active hurricane season for 2006, with an estimated eight
to ten hurricanes expected. Of these, they predict four to six will
escalate to "major" hurricanes of Category Three strength or
higher. ITT Industries (NYSE:ITT) continues to engineer critical
technologies that enable forecasters to predict and monitor the
course of a hurricane, and is currently developing instruments for
the next generation of meteorological satellites. "With an
increased number of hurricanes affecting the country, it's critical
that communities in danger of severe weather be warned as far in
advance as possible," said Frank Koester, Vice President and
Director of ITT Space Systems Division Commercial and Space Science
Programs. "Advance warning, leading to community preparedness and
potential evacuation, is the best way to mitigate the effects of
natural disasters. Because of this, ITT continues to invest in
technology that will improve the timeliness and accuracy of weather
forecasts." Sensing Technology Today There are two types of
meteorological satellites: geostationary and polar-orbiting.
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) and Polar
Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) carry a suite of
instruments, including imagers and sounders developed and produced
by ITT that monitor and measure moisture and temperature in weather
systems. Although used for different purposes, these satellites
work in a similar manner. GOES is a family of satellites and
sensors located 22,000 miles above the earth in a pre-set
geostationary orbit. GOES provides nearly continual monitoring of
the northern hemisphere and is used to track hurricanes and violent
weather in that region. POES is a group of satellites and sensors
that orbit the earth approximately every 90 minutes. POES
instruments provide detailed sounding information that enables
forecasters to refine numerical weather prediction models and help
determine the direction a hurricane is traveling. Sensing
Technology Tomorrow Compared with today's advanced systems,
National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites, or
NPOESS, will improve even further data provided to weather
forecasters by using ITT's Cross-track Infrared Sounder, or CrIS.
CrIS, one of the most advanced sounders ever, will track a vertical
distribution of temperature, moisture, and pressure in the
atmosphere, which will help in both short-term weather predictions
and long-term forecasting. NPOESS is scheduled to replace POES in
2011. ITT is also developing the GOES Advanced Baseline Imager,
planned for launch around 2012, which will help better track
violent weather. This instrument will include the most capable
American-built imager ever used on a NOAA weather satellite. Used
for a wide range of weather, oceanographic, climate, and
environmental applications, the technology will improve upon the
current GOES imager by adding more spectral bands, faster imaging,
higher spatial resolution, better navigation, and more accurate
calibration. Additionally, ITT is developing concepts for the
GOES-R Global Lightning Mapper and Hyperspectral Environmental
Suite (HES). The Mapper will help detect and locate lightning. This
will help forecasters improve the routing of airlines around severe
storms which are increasingly viewed as precursors to tornados. HES
will be critical in predicting the path and strength of violent
weather such as hurricanes, hail storms and tornados. The Coastal
Waters Imager, part of HES, will provide high resolution images of
algae blooms and river effluents detrimental to commercial fishing
and recreation. Since 1965, ITT has been developing sophisticated
imaging and sounding instruments that go on board meteorological
satellites produced for NOAA to track severe weather patterns and
by meteorologists for weather forecasting. For more information on
ITT's hurricane sensing technology or to upload an interview with
Frank Koester, please log onto http://www.thenewsmarket.com/ITT.
You can receive broadcast-standard video quality digitally or by
tape from this site. Registration and video are free to the media.
About ITT ITT Industries, Inc. (http://www.itt.com/) supplies
advanced technology products and services in key markets including:
fluid and water management including water treatment; defense
communication, opto-electronics, information technology and
services; electronic interconnects and switches; and other
specialty products. Headquartered in White Plains, NY, the company
generated $7.4 billion in 2005 sales. In addition to the New York
Stock Exchange, ITT Industries stock is traded on the NYSE Arca,
Paris, London and Frankfurt exchanges. For free B-roll/video
content about ITT Industries, please log onto
http://www.thenewsmarket.com/ITT to preview and request video. You
can receive broadcast-standard video quality digitally or by tape
from this site. Registration and video are free to the media.
DATASOURCE: ITT Industries CONTACT: Janice Gatti for ITT,
+1-212-931-6143, or Web site: http://www.itt.com/
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