• Atmosphere
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.265-281
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• 2014

Currently, Korea is developing a Cheollian follow-on satellite program, named as Geostationary Korea Multipurpose Satellite 2 (GK-2), which consists of two satellites. One satellite (GK-2A) is dedicated to the meterological mission, while the second one (GK-2B) hosts two main payloads for the ocean and environmental application. As GK-2A is dedicated to the meteorological mission unlike Cheollian, there have been discussions on the possibility of transferring the responsibilities of the GK-2A program to the Korea Meteorological Administration. To help resolve any consumptive disputes or to find an efficient way for the GK-2A program, the events happened after the successful launch of the first meteorological satellite TIROS-1 in the U.S. in April 1960 are investigated. With the successful demonstration of usefulness of TIROS-1 for the meteorological applications, organizations such as the Weather Bureau and the Department of Defense, responsible for the real time application of the TIROS 1 data, strongly requested for an operational meteorological satellite program which resulted in the plan for the National Operational Meteorological Satellite System (NOMSS). The plan was strongly supported by Kennedy Adminstration and was put forwarded for the new program under the responsibility of Weather Bureau to the Congress. However, the responsible Committee on Science and Aeronautics sided with NASA and requested major revision of the responsibility. Due to many unfavorable conditions, Weather Bureau accepted the requests and signed with NASA on the agreement for the operational meteorological satellite. However, with the delay of Nimbus satellite which is planned to be used for the prototype of the operational satellite and changes of the unfavorable situations, the Weather Bureau could draw a second agreement with NASA. The new agreement reflected most propositions requested by the Weather Bureau for the NOMSS plan. Until now the second agreement is regarded as the basic principles for the operational meteorological satellite program in the U.S. This study investigates the backgrounds and processes of the second agreement and its implications for the GK-2 program.

• Atmosphere
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.489-497
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• 2012

Recently released a top secret document explicitly shows that the early development plan for an earth observation satellite in the USA has a hidden and more important purpose for a concept of 'free space' than the scientific purpose. At that time, the hidden and secret concept imbedded within the early space development plan prevail other national policies of the USA government for purpose of the national security. Under these circumstances, it is quite reasonable to accept a possibility that the meteorological satellites which play a key role in the every area of meteorology and climatology was also born for the hidden purposes. Even it is so, it is quite amazing that the first meteorological satellite is launched in the USA despite of the facts that the major users of the meteorological satellites were not very enthusiastic with the meteorological satellite and the program was not started as a formal meteorological satellite project. This was only possible because of the external socio-political impact caused by the successful launch of the Russian Sputnik satellite and a few key policy developers who favored the meteorological satellite program. It is also interesting to note that the beginning of the first Korean meteorological satellite program was initiated by a similar socio-political influence occurred by the launch of a North Korean satellite.

• Atmosphere
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.453-470
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• 2013

As a part of the KIAPS Observation Processing System (KOPS), we have developed the modules of satellite radiance data pre-processing and quality control, which include observation operators to interpolate model state variables into radiances in observation space. AMSU-A (Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A) level-1d radiance data have been extracted using the BUFR (Binary Universal Form for the Representation of meteorological data) decoder and a first guess has been calculated with RTTOV (Radiative Transfer for TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder) version 10.2. For initial quality checks, the pixels contaminated by large amounts of cloud liquid water, heavy precipitation, and sea ice have been removed. Channels for assimilation, rejection, or monitoring have been respectively selected for different surface types since the errors from the skin temperature are caused by inaccurate surface emissivity. Correcting the bias caused by errors in the instruments and radiative transfer model is crucial in radiance data pre-processing. We have developed bias correction modules in two steps based on 30-day innovation statistics (observed radiance minus background; O-B). The scan bias correction has been calculated individually for each channel, satellite, and scan position. Then a multiple linear regression of the scan-bias-corrected innovations with several predictors has been employed to correct the airmass bias.