A-Train Satellite Formation and its Application to Cloud Research
Xing-Wang Zhou · Remote Sensing Information · 2008
The changing Earth environment is increasingly a focus of many agricultural,industrial and societal concerns.In order to improve the ability to understand and predict the Earth system variability,NASA carries out the Earth Science Enterprise(ESE) mission in the early of 21st century.One of the ESE components is the satellite formation,which can synergize various satellites,sensors and spectra to observe the Earth from space.Flying in close proximity,A-Train can collect cloud comprehensive information,including cloud visible,infrared,microwave and laser properties.These detailed cloud information can better the technological conditions of the cloud research.Based on the A-Train,the passage summarized the concerned missions-ESE and ESSP,then introduced the cloud loads into the A-Train.Associated with the concept of the synergistic observation to the Earth,the passage put great emphasis on the application of the A-Train to the cloud research,involving the fields of cloud macro-physical characteristic,cloud micro-physical structure and cloud comprehensive analysis.