GORS Space Meteorological Receiving Station

In order to serve the needs of the different studies and research in GORS and other Syrian Institutions, GORS has established a space meteorological receiving station. This station receives daily high resolution images to be used in meteorological, agricultural and environmental studies. These images are of two types:

CHRPT images (acquired from Chinese Satellite)		HRPT images (acquired from NOAA satellite)
They are an extension of HRPT images, having up to 5 extra band, giving a total of 10 bands. Currently, CHRPT images are transmitted only by Chinese Feng Yun 1C satellite, which began full CHRPT transmissions on 10th June 1999. The Feng Yun 1C satellite obtains CHRPT image data using the MVISR (Multi-channel Visible and Infra-red Scan Radiometer) sensor, which detects radiation in 10 channels, described in the table down This sensor has the same resolution as the AVHRR sensor used by the NOAA satellites, but provides a larger rang of different types of data, including soil humidity, ocean color and water vabour up to 6 images are available from the Feng Yun 1C satellite per day.		They are transmitted by NOAA 12,14,15,16,17,18 satellites which pass approximately over the poles at a height of 850 km, Each satellite continuously scans an area (or swathe) 2600 km wide. Completing 14 orbits in 24 hours total global coverage is archived twice a day. The NOAA satellites obtain HRPT image satellites data using the AVHRR (Advanced very high resolution radiometer about 0.5km) which detects radiation in 5 channels (or bands). This sensor gives HRPT images of a much higher resolution from the images of the geostationary satellites such as Meteosat (4km visible, 8km infra red). Up to 6 images are available from each of the NOAA satellite each day, giving a total of up to 30 images in a 24-hours period.
Wavelength band µm 0.68 - 0.58 1 µm 0.89 - 0.84 2 µm 3.95 - 3.55 3 µm 11.3 - 10.3 4 µm 12.5 - 11.5 5 µm 1.64 - 1.58 6 µm 0.48 - 0.43 7 µm 0.53 - 0.48 8 µm 0.58 - 0.53 9 µm 0.99 - 0.90 10		Wavelength band µm 0.68 - 0.58 1 µm 1.0 - 0.725 2 µm 3.93 - 3.55 3 µm 11.3 - 10.3 4 µm 12.5 - 11.5

Coverage Area :
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The coverage area has been selected to cover Syria and surrounding countries. The coverage area could be modified to add more area.
Products :
A number of different products can be generated from downloaded HRPT and CHRPT images. These images are suitable for different applications :
- Sea surface temperature
- Earth temperature
- Could movement and temperature
- Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ( NDVI)
- Normalized Difference Snow Index
- Density Slicing: It assigns a definite color to certain pixels of an image with single band and calibrated values ( reflectance or brilliance temperature ) . This index is specially used in identifying oil flares and forest fires.

Earth and sea surface temperature:
The sea surface temperature algorithm is an accurate method for determining the actual sea surface temperature using the brilliance temperature from bands 4 and 5 of an image.

Could movement:
The cloud movement above a study area around the time can be simulated using 30 - 40 images. Also, the types of the clouds can be determined. This helps in predicting storms and hurricanes.

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NDVI product
The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index algorithm is a simple method for determining different types of vegetation activities, and allowing changes to be monitored over time. The NDVI formula uses the visible band, the near infrared band to produce values between -1 and 1 , adjusted to account for the atmospheric correction , the differences in illumination and the surface slope. Each pixel is colored according to its NDVI value. This is very important for agriculture decision makers.

NDSI product
Bands 1,2,8 are used to calculate the Normalized Difference Snow Index . NDSI is very important for fresh water reserve estimations.