Forecasters are set to lose some of their sharpest eyes in the sky just a few months before Atlantic hurricane season peaks when the Department of Defense halts a key source of satellite data over cybersecurity concerns.<\/p>\n
The data comes from microwave sensors attached to three aging polar-orbiting satellites operated for both military and civilian purposes. Data from the sensors is critical to hurricane forecasters because it allows them to peer through layers of clouds and into the center of a storm, where rain and thunderstorms develop, even at night. The sensors don\u2019t rely on visible light.<\/p>\n
Losing the data \u2014 at a time when the National Weather Service is releasing fewer weather balloons and the agency is short on meteorologists because of budget cuts \u2014 will make it more likely that forecasters miss key developments in a hurricane, several hurricane experts said. Those changes help meteorologists determine what level of threat a storm may pose and therefore how emergency managers ought to prepare. Microwave data offers some of the earliest indications that sustained winds are strengthening inside a storm.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really the instrument that allows us to look under the hood. It\u2019s definitely a significant loss. There\u2019s no doubt at all hurricane forecasts will be degraded because of this,\u201d said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher and senior research associate at the University of Miami\u2019s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. \u201cThey\u2019re able to detect when an eye wall forms in a tropical storm and if it\u2019s intensifying \u2014 or rapidly intensifying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Researchers think rapid intensification is becoming more likely in tropical storms as the oceans warm as a result of human-caused climate change.<\/p>\n
The three satellites are operated for both military and civilian purposes through the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, a joint effort of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Defense.<\/p>\n
While hurricane experts said they were concerned about losing the tool, Kim Doster, NOAA\u2019s communications director, downplayed the decision\u2019s effect on hurricane forecasting by the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n
In an email, Doster said the military\u2019s microwave data \u201cis a single dataset in a robust suite of hurricane forecasting and modeling tools in the NWS portfolio.\u201d Doster said these models include data from geostationary satellites \u2014 a different system that constantly observes Earth from about 22,300 miles away and offers a vantage point that appears fixed because the satellites synchronize with Earth\u2019s rotation.<\/p>\n
A U.S. Space Force official said the satellites and their instruments in question remain functional and that the data will be sent directly to weather satellite readout terminals across the DOD. The Navy\u2019s Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center made the decision to stop processing that data and sharing it publicly, the official said.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, a division of the Navy notified researchers that it would cease to process and share the data on or before June 30, and some researchers received an email from the Navy\u2019s Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, saying that its data storage and sharing program relied on a processing station that was using an \u201cend-of-life\u201d operating system with vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n
This microwave data is also used by snow and ice scientists to track the extent of polar sea ice, which helps scientists understand long-term climate trends. Sea ice forms from frozen ocean water. It grows in coverage during winter months and typically melts during warmer times of the year. Sea ice reflects sunlight back into space, which cools the planet. That makes it an important metric to track over time. The extent of summer Arctic sea ice is trending lower because of global warming.<\/p>\n
Walt Meier, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, said his program learned of the Navy\u2019s decision earlier this week. Meier said the satellites and sensors are about 16 years old. Researchers have been preparing for them to eventually fail, but they weren\u2019t expecting the military to pull the plug on data with little warning, he said.<\/p>\n
The loss of microwave data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program will significantly impact hurricane forecasting and sea ice research. While alternative data sources are available, the reduction in data will make it more challenging for forecasters to predict the trajectory and intensity of hurricanes, potentially putting public safety at risk.<\/p>\n
Introduction to Hurricane Forecasting Forecasters are set to lose some of their sharpest eyes in the sky just a few months before Atlantic hurricane season peaks when the Department of Defense halts a key source of satellite data over cybersecurity concerns. The Importance of Microwave Sensors The data comes from microwave sensors attached to three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-weather"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.nbcmiami.com\/2025\/06\/Space.png?resize=1200%2C675&quality=85&strip=all&w=1200&resize=1200,675&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16849"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16849"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16851,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16849\/revisions\/16851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}