Summary of Concepts on Satellite Platforms

• Geostationary satellites:
  • describe their orbit around the earth.
  • why are they at an altitude of 35,800 km?
  • what are the advantages and disadvantages of geostationary satellites?
  • what are the areas of coverage for the two U.S. GOES satellites? What are their sub points?
  • Describe the scanning strategy for the GOES satellites.

• Polar orbiting satellites:
  • at what altitude do they orbit the earth?
  • what are the advantages and disadvantages of the polar orbiting satellites?
  • describe the orbit of the polar orbiting satellites.
  • what is their scan coverage?
• what factors affect the data resolution for both polar and GOES satellites?
• what is parallax and what error does it introduce into satellite data?