Arctic Satellite Composite Imagery - Infrared

The Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison generates an infrared (~11.0 microns) Arctic satellite composite imagery. Using a mosaic of all satellite data available allows the benefits of both the timeliness and routine observations of geostationary satellites as well as the high latitude coverage of the polar orbiting satellites. The Arctic composites are made every three hours (synoptic hour) creating a total of eight images per day. More recently, Arctic composites are created every hour for a total of 24 images per day. Most input satellite observations included in the composite were procured within 15 minutes of the top of the synoptic hour. No image is more than +/- 50 minutes from the top of the synoptic hour. Geostationary and Polar orbiting satellites used to generate the composite can include: POES/NOAA, GOES -East and ?West, METOSAT, MTSAT, FY-2, Kalpana-1, and Terra/Aqua.