1. Introduction
2. MBARI Satellite History
3. BOG SeaWiFS Data Processing
4. AVHRR Data Processing
5. Satellite Control and Processing
6. Glossary

Introduction

MBARI  receives and processes raw satellite data directly from the NOAA  (AVHRR) and SeaStar(SeaWiFS) Satellites.  The signal is received through a Telonics 1.5 meter dish, located in the geodome next to the MBARI volleyball court. Data from the dish is processed in the communications room by the HP workstation FOAM.  All of the data processing and control system hardware is located in a single rack enclosure, next to the communication room door. For more information, click on Satellite Control and Processing.

The workstation FOAM runs the antenne controler, the data aquisition system, and a series of scripts written to distribute, archive and process SeaWiFS and AVHRR data.  For SeaWiFS data, the raw encrypted signal is recived from the antenne, fed through the reciver card and into  the Orbital Science Sea Star ground processor via a 9 pin ribbon cable. Decoded, raw LO data then returns through the ribbon and is injested into the system. From this point, the L0 data is  then processed to L1A radiance data and stored on FOAM. (this code is further described here .)  The  L1A data is  picked up each day by NASA, and processed into L2 water leaving radiance data, and is then stored at a NASA ftp site. Each night the MBARI system retrieves the finished L2 data, and feeds it into the  BOG SeaWiFS Processing system. Using SeaDas and IDL, this system produces the chlorophyll, K490, and true color maps found on the MBARI web site.

For AVHRR Sea Surface Temperature (SST) data, satellite telemetry is received, processed and stored via the MBARI satellite system. This system produces the images found on the MBARI home page.  To create the SST products published on the MBARI  BOG web page, a system run on LEPAS retrieves cloud masked AVHRR SST data from Oregon state and processes them  using SeaDAS.
 

History