The forecasters maybe should have prepared for this, considering Congress voted to terminate the DMSP program in 2015.
The last DMSP launch was in 2024, but that one failed already. The previous launch was in 2009, and that one is still working.
Does anyone know what the DMSP satellites provided for hurricane forecasting that the 4th gen GOES satellites and the JPSS satellites can't do?
Note: I do think that shutting the program down suddenly when there are still some functioning satellites is a bad idea. But this program was very near it's end of life already.
The forecasters maybe should have prepared for this, considering Congress voted to terminate the DMSP program in 2015.
The last DMSP launch was in 2024, but that one failed already. The previous launch was in 2009, and that one is still working.
Does anyone know what the DMSP satellites provided for hurricane forecasting that the 4th gen GOES satellites and the JPSS satellites can't do?
Note: I do think that shutting the program down suddenly when there are still some functioning satellites is a bad idea. But this program was very near it's end of life already.
You mean they should've forecasted it?
I suppose so, but this message from NOAA (https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/messages/2025/06/MSG_20250625...) shows a period of five days til shutdown, which seems extremely abrupt.
Actually even the picture used in the article is from a GOES satellite.