Easy Access Satellite Photos

[John Gnuechtel]

Hunting down satellite pictures has always seemed like a pretty big hassle to me, so I put together a complete and organized set of links that pull down the highest resolution satellite pictures I've been able to find. Download this file: http://www.amazingcheese.com/StormTrack/Sa...SatelliteDB.zip, extract it to your favorites folder, and you'll get quick access to the lower 48 states at a resolution of 1000x800, in visible, infrared, and water vapor flavors. If anybody knows a way to actually get higher resolution images than this, I would really like to hear about it.

 

[Tyler Allison]

If anybody knows a way to actually get higher resolution images than this, I would really like to hear about it.

I have access to 1km resolution sat images via the IDD network run by unidata. Many of your large weather research universities will have it as well...the main problem is if me/someone makes it available via the internet their bandwidth usage spikes and somebody has to pay.

If I could figure out a way of making the bandwidth not hurt so much I'd make them available.

sample image that is 1600x1200 at 1km resolution: http://nexrad.allisonhouse.com/customer/sa...050521_2325.gif

 

[Bob Schafer]

I use this:

http://weather.cod.edu/analysis/analysis.1kmvis.html

Or, for southern 1/2 of The Alley:

http://wwwghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/get-g...United%20States

Northern 1/2: (I don't chase in states outside these views...)

http://wwwghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/get-g...United%20States

Those URL's are what I created myself. That site allows you to create your own custom imagery. Go here:

http://weather.msfc.nasa.gov/GOES/goeseastconusir.html

Then click on "Build your own pictures" to learn how to make what you want. It's pretty cool. You can do vis/ir/wv, singles/animations(choose the number of pics in the loop), high res/low res, large/med/small, counties/no counties, lat-lon/no lat-lon, and more.

Bob

[edit] One more thing:

Here's an example of what I use on the road, when I have a 9.6Kbps or 14.4Kbps connection:

http://wwwghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/get-g...United%20States

That image was only a 22K file last I tried it! Sure, it ain't pretty, but it can get the job done on the road better than you might think!

 

[John Gnuechtel]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Bob, my links actually use the same techniques you have listed. I just manually editted them so that every state is listed, thereby removing the need to edit the URLs on the fly, which can be a pain in the butt when you're working on a tablet PC (mine typically doesn't have the keyboard attached). Eventually, I'll get around to putting in links to wider angle shots, as well as the hurricane sectors. All in all, going that route is definitely a good way to work when mobile.

I'm jonesing for higher quality stuff when I'm at home on the big PC. Tyler, I was wondering what you used to generate that image. Do you need a GEMPAK system to do that, or is there a Windows client that you can use? Are the images standard file types that could be read by something like Photoshop? When I'm feeling particularly crazy, I get my stuff from here http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/goeseast/ and pull it into Photoshop. But there are too many steps to doing it that way for it to truly be practical.

 

[Tyler Allison]

Tyler, I was wondering what you used to generate that image. Do you need a GEMPAK system to do that

You'll need Gempak to convert from the raw format into a GIF image.

or is there a Windows client that you can use?

Not that I know of.

Are the images standard file types that could be read by something like Photoshop?

The raw format is not a standard file type in the sense of gif/jpg/png/etc. It is a standard file format so anyone with the skills could create a windows app for it. But one does not exist.

In theory someone with a lot of bandwidth to spare could make the plain satellite image available via GIF and then you could bring the image into some other GIS application...but I dont know of anyone doing that.

rdale (member here) has more experience with gempak than I. He may be able to comment on if there is an FTP/HTTP location for the large satellite image that is not well known. If there is, as long as you have a Linux machine at the house you can get Gempak installed and be good to go. rdale will setup your gempak system for a nominal charge.

 

[rdale]

I use the GSFC link when I'm not on my GEMPAK machine, but the source for the hi-res imagery only works with GEMPAK/AWIPS.

- Rob

 

[John Peck]

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/loops/ has LARGE 1km shots, even loopable. does tend to be a little slower updating than other sources