Proceedings Article | 26 December 2006
W. Smith, H. Revercomb, D. Zhou, G. Bingham, W. Feltz, H. Huang, R. Knuteson, A. Larar, X. Liu, R. Reisse, D. Tobin
KEYWORDS: Clouds, Spectral resolution, Satellites, Temperature metrology, Fourier transforms, Spectroscopy, Calibration, Sensors, Earth's atmosphere, Aerospace engineering
A revolutionary satellite weather forecasting instrument, called the "GIFTS" which stands for the "Geostationary
Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer", was recently completed and successfully tested in a space chamber at the
Utah State University's Space Dynamics Laboratory. The GIFTS was originally proposed by the NASA Langley
Research Center, the University of Wisconsin, and the Utah State University and selected for flight demonstration as
NASA's New Millennium Program (NMP) Earth Observing-3 (EO-3) mission, which was unfortunately cancelled in
2004. GIFTS is like a digital 3-d movie camera that, when mounted on a geostationary satellite, would provide from
space a revolutionary four-dimensional view of the Earth's atmosphere. GIFTS will measure the distribution, change,
and movement of atmospheric moisture, temperature, and certain pollutant gases, such as carbon monoxide and ozone.
The observation of the convergence of invisible water vapor, and the change of atmospheric temperature, provides
meteorologists with the observations needed to predict where, and when, severe thunderstorms, and possibly tornados,
would occur, before they are visible on radar or in satellite cloud imagery. The ability of GIFTS to observe the motion
of moisture and clouds at different altitudes enables atmospheric winds to be observed over vast, and otherwise data
sparse, oceanic regions of the globe. These wind observations would provide the means to greatly improve the forecast
of where tropical storms and hurricanes will move and where and when they will come ashore (i.e., their landfall
position and time). GIFTS, if flown into geostationary orbit, would provide about 80,000 vertical profiles per minute,
each one like a low vertical resolution (1-2km) weather balloon sounding, but with a spacing of 4 km. GIFTS is a
revolutionary atmospheric sensing tool. A glimpse of the science measurement capabilities of GIFTS is provided
through airborne measurements with the NPOESS Airborne Sounding Testbed - Interferometer (NAST-I).
