Winter's icy grip

Cold air from Scandinavia brings freezing weather conditions to Poland with temperatures well below 0C. I recorded -16.5C overnight last night and -21C is forecast for tonight. Although today was clear and sunny the temperature was still only -10C to -12C. Sun illumination level was high today, making it possible to receive some nice images transmitted by the NOAA weather satellites. I received the one shown above from NOAA18 at 1131gmt on 137.9125MHz.

Sat pic gallery

Today's images in the visible light band which I received "off-air" from the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, ( NOAA ), low earth orbiting weather satellites, NOAA18 & NOAA19, automatic picture transmission, ( APT ), weather facsimilie, ( WEFAX ), service.

From top to bottom:-
NOAA19, 1104gmt, downlink 137.10MHz
NOAA18, 1141gmt, downlink 137.9125MHz
NOAA19, 1246gmt, downlink 137.10MHz
NOAA18, 1323gmt, downlink 137.9125MHz

There is still some sea-ice to be seen at the northern end of the Gulf of Bothnia.
If you look carefully you may see a red cross which gives away the position of my ground station.

The changing seasons

It is interesting to follow the seasonal changes on earth from the images which I receive directly from weather satellites. The last time on 26th January, ( see post ), showed Europe from Germany eastwards under ice and snow. The images which I captured today tell a very different story.
The infra-red image I have chosen to post here was derived from the heat detected by the infra-red sensor onboard satellite NOAA18, and transmitted on 137.9125MHz at 1151gmt. Darker shades, ( black, brown, green ), represent warmer areas than lighter shades, ( blue, white ). Many Baltic countries had a fine, warm day today. I was outdoors making the most of it !