Older generations must remember that a few decades ago the weather forecast generally broadcast on the radio was not taken seriously by the population. The joking and widespread comment was that the opposite of what was announced in the weather reports could be expected. Time passed and forecasts improved and gained credibility in São Paulo, starting in the 1960s, with Narciso Vernizzi, the well-known “Weather Man”, who announced weather forecasts in daily bulletins on Jovem Pan radio. The forecasts resulted from analysis and interpretation of data such as wind direction and speed, atmospheric pressure, temperature obtained at all the main Brazilian airports and even in countries such as Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. The work required day-to-day dedication and acuity in interpretation and, even so, the results could be affected by unpredictable events. Then came geostationary satellites that began to provide other information, including rainfall, air humidity and images that allow, among other things, monitoring the movement of clouds. Although uncertainties persist, continuous improvements in geostationary satellites lead to increasingly accurate predictions. Data received from satellites is analyzed and translated for the public by a meteorologist. On television in general they are broadcast by a charming “weather girl”. Today, outings, meetings and even trips are scheduled depending on the weather.
The Center for Meteorological and Climate Research Applied to Agriculture (Cepagri) at Unicamp, one of the most important Brazilian centers for scientific research focused on agriculture, which offers the community daily weather forecasts, with a view to generating more accurate information, received in October antenna for receiving images from the GOES-16 geostationary meteorological satellite, the most advanced developed by NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration). This antenna, weighing two tons, 4,5 m in diameter and costing 257 thousand dollars, acquired with resources from the Financier of Studies and Projects (Finep), which went into operation in November, will allow Cepagri to receive images every fifteen minutes with information on the surface, atmosphere, winds, lightning and solar data in better detail. As a result, weather forecasting can be carried out with greater precision and researchers will be able to carry out more accurate monitoring and studies aimed at both agriculture (soil, plantation and harvest forecast) and the environment (forests and bodies of water ), being able to more effectively contribute to triggering actions aimed at reducing losses and damages. Last Friday (07), the rector Marcelo Knobel and the general coordinator of the University, Teresa Atvars, were at Cepagri to see the new equipment.
The director of Cepagri, cartographic engineer Renata Ribeiro do Valle Gonçalves, remembers that the center has been working with images since 1985, and the first equipment acquired was called UAI. Signals were received via telephone. In 1994, the NOAA system was acquired, which allowed the reception of three to four images per day, and which had been used until the arrival of the new antenna. But, in 2014, the center had already promoted another update with the addition of the METOP satellite and, from then on, started using two satellites with the same characteristics that also made it possible to obtain night images.
The researcher explains that there are several satellites designed for meteorological, environmental and urban studies. What distinguishes them is the image resolution. In meteorological studies, the areas covered are very large, but the detail is small, contrary to what occurs in urban and environmental approaches in which the area focused is smaller, but the detail is greater. The challenge is to work with an image that covers a larger area, with less detail, and use it for agricultural and environmental studies. In this line, Cepagri has been operating for 30 years, since the 1980s.
With the launch of the GOES-16 satellite, the meteorological approach was repositioned because the images sent have high temporal and spatial resolution. Temporal because they arrive every 5 or 15 minutes in extreme events, whereas before the intervals were one hour or, at least, 30 minutes. Spatial because it offers better resolution images. By the way, computer engineer Bruno Veloso, who at Cepagri works as a computer technician in charge of assembling infrastructure and computational processing, explains that each pixel, which represents a point in the image, which previously covered four km, can now represent a thousand at 500m.
To receive signals from this new satellite, a new antenna was necessary because, in addition to changes in temporal and spatial resolutions, the amount of information became much greater. “Previous satellites provided us with images corresponding to the visible and infrared regions. Now, in addition, we start to receive differentiated products such as the amount of precipitation during the rainy season; convection currents, which allow the displacement of air masses; vegetation index; fire peaks; amount of particulates, which corresponds to dust disseminated in the atmosphere during the dry season; and behavior of volcanoes. And two new data: the detection of lightning every 20 seconds, previously carried out with terrestrial equipment, and the reception of solar images. This is a huge difference that will allow us to expand our partnerships not only with Unicamp research units but also with other institutions in Brazil and abroad. Our expectation is that from now on researchers will be able, with the data we will have available, to contribute to scientific development”, explains Renata.
Unicamp becomes the first Brazilian university to receive images from GOES-16. The first antenna was installed a week earlier in the civil defense of the State of Santa Catarina. According to Renata, “the antenna makes it possible to directly receive the raw data sent by the satellite, and not those already previously selected and made available by NASA, without any additional costs beyond the cost of the equipment and its maintenance”.
Storing this large volume of information is a challenge. To face it, it was necessary to acquire a storage, worth 500 thousand reais, financed by Fapesp, which is a high-performance computer intended for storing information received by the Center and which will then be made available to interested parties, explains Bruno.
