A HURRICANE NAMED SANDY High above the equator a group of satellites Earth at the same speed the planet rotates circles Earth every 24 hours They orbit This means each satellite stays directly above a point on the ground They are called geostationary operational environmental satellites GOES In 2016 three of these satellites were active They observe Satellites are critical tools for US weather forecasting 5 CHAPTER ONE
weather patterns in the western hemisphere from an altitude of 22,236 miles 35,785 km On October 22 2012 one of the GOES saw a disturbance over the Caribbean Sea Swirls of clouds appeared south of Kingston Jamaica Meteorologists took notice They watched the swirls grow and strengthen The swirls became a storm The storm was soon named Tropical Storm Sandy Sandy moved northward It crossed Jamaica and Cuba and grew into a hurricane The meteorologists used computer programs to predict Hurricane Sandy’s 6 IN THE REAL WORLD GOES The GOES system monitors Earth’s weather Scientists engineers and technicians design and build the satellites Other teams use rockets to launch the satellites into space Technicians control the satellites and collect their pictures and data Meteorologists study the pictures and data to create weather forecasts The first of these satellites was launched in October 1975 As new ones are launched old ones are shut off
October 24 October 26 October 28 The Path of Hurricane Sandy Computers predicted many possible paths Hurricane Sandy could follow The predictions shifted as the storm moved and scientists collected more data It was hoped that the storm would remain over the Atlantic Ocean and then dissipate Instead Sandy crossed over land These maps show predictions of the storm’s path on October 24 26 and 28 How did the predictions change as time went on course They determined the storm would likely strike land near New Jersey around October 29 Sandy continued to strengthen as it moved across the 7
