Cambridge, MA—Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. (AER) has been selected as premier algorithm developer on the Cross-Track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) phase of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Program—the country’s combined military and civilian weather satellite programs that enable more precise monitoring of weather patterns around the Earth. AER will be supporting ITT Industries’ Aerospace/Communications Division on this 10-year, $73 million contract, with possible options and award fees.
"NPOESS is the major environmental satellite remote sensing system that will enable scientists and forecasters to more effectively monitor changing weather patterns for military and civilian use," said Ron Isaacs, senior vice president and executive director of AER’s Technology Solutions Center. "We are very pleased to be part of this great national effort."
NPOESS combines the country's military and civilian weather satellite programs, NOAA's Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites and the Department of Defense's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program into a single system, which is expected save up to $1 billion over the life of the program. For this contract phase of NPOESS, three Cross-Track Infrared Sounders will be produced which will be flown at different stages of the program to take measurements of clouds, moisture content, atmospheric pressure, surface radiance and temperatures within the Earth’s atmosphere.
AER’s Atmospheric Sounding Group, headed by Jean-Luc Moncet, leads the CrIS initiative. The team has developed state-of-the-art retrieval algorithms to infer the vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature, moisture, and pressure for CrIS. These data provide key information for the initialization of numerical weather prediction models.
This is AER’s most recent award to develop algorithms for national programs. In 1997, AER was awarded contracts to serve as premier algorithm developer for four critical sensor payload study contracts. Earlier this year, AER was selected to develop algorithms for the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) phase of NPOESS. OMPS will measure how much ozone is in our atmosphere and how the ozone concentration varies with altitude.
About AER:
Founded in 1977, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. is an award-winning environmental research and consulting company with demonstrated expertise in remote sensing, satellite meteorology, atmospheric sounding, numerical weather prediction, climatology, circulation diagnostics, atmospheric chemistry, air quality and risk assessment, mathematical modeling, planetary sciences, and systems engineering. In addition to its Cambridge, MA headquarters, AER has offices in Washington, D.C.; San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA; Hong Kong, and Beijing.
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