We use remote sensing for many applications today, but one of the biggest uses is for monitoring weather, including hurricanes! Thanks to satellites, we can easily track hurricanes from their formation to their decay and predict where they might strike land. This helps us warn people that they might be in harm's way of potentially threatening weather phenomenon. How do satellites help us monitor hurricanes and other types of weather?

Satellites are constantly circling the Earth carrying sensors that collect data. The kind of data they collect depends on the purpose of the sensors. For example, some sensors will collect information about water vapor, temperature, or clouds, and some can collect information about all of these things at once. The main purpose of these satellite sensors is to monitor what is occurring below on Earth. They help answer basic questions such as "What is the weather going to be like today?" and "What may happen tomorrow?". They give us the advantage of seeing the Earth from a different viewpoint- from out in space!

There are several different types of images that can be generated by satellite sensors as they orbit far above our atmosphere. Click on the image above to learn more.