Last week, ESSIC/CISESS Visiting Associate Research Scientist Ralph Ferraro gave a talk titled “Satellite Hydrological Products and their Utility in the Alaska Region”. Over 50 participants listened in on the remote presentations.
Passive microwave sensors on low earth orbiting satellites have the ability to monitor several parameters associated with the Earth’s hydrological cycle–falling precipitation, snow and ice parameters, soil moisture, etc. These observations are particularly useful for high latitude locations where geostationary satellites have limited coverage. Ferraro reviewed the methodology used to retrieve this information and offered several practical applications for using this data in weather forecasting and climate monitoring.
Ferraro is the Chief of the NOAA/NESDIS Satellite Climate Studies Branch (collocated with CISESS in College Park, MD) and an ESSIC / CISESS Visiting Associate Research Scientist. He is also a member of NASA’s Precipitation Measurement Mission and AMSR science teams, rapporteur to the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites for the International Precipitation Working Group and former chair of the AMS and NWA committees on Satellite Meteorology.
