[HN Gopher] Receiving weather satellite images using SatDump
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       Receiving weather satellite images using SatDump
        
       Author : belter
       Score  : 173 points
       Date   : 2024-02-08 07:50 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (support.nooelec.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (support.nooelec.com)
        
       | matteason wrote:
       | Messing around with SDR is a really fun little hobby. There's
       | something very satisfying about picking up signals that are just
       | floating around waiting to be seen.
       | 
       | I briefly tried writing an SDR tuner in JavaScript a while back
       | but there was a bug somewhere between Chrome and my SDR dongle
       | that meant it failed whenever you tried to tune to a different
       | frequency. I might pick it back up and see if it's possible now.
       | 
       | If you're interested in near-realtime weather images without
       | having to fiddle with SDR, NASA collate images from loads of
       | different satellites at https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/ and
       | so do EUMETSAT at
       | https://view.eumetsat.int/productviewer?v=default#
       | 
       | I used the EUMETSAT data to build this service which provides
       | 3-hourly cloud maps for the whole Earth, which are surprisingly
       | difficult to find: https://github.com/matteason/live-cloud-maps
        
         | raffraffraff wrote:
         | I was expecting the NASA link to be a somewhat usable
         | experience but it's... perhaps not for someone who just wants a
         | weather prediction. The map is blank unless you add some
         | layers, and I just spent "too long" failing to find anything
         | useful. There are layers with data from 1987. maybe I need to
         | use this on a desktop browser.
        
           | matteason wrote:
           | This link should show a full true-colour image from
           | yesterday: https://go.nasa.gov/48cQIXE
           | 
           | And this one precipitation estimates:
           | https://go.nasa.gov/49a68Nq
        
         | somishere wrote:
         | This is an amazing resource. Thank you.
        
         | NKosmatos wrote:
         | I remember seeing your page somewhere, but it got lost between
         | all the opened tabs and I didn't bookmark it. Now that I've
         | rediscovered it, and found the creator, I can say thanks mate
         | :-)
        
           | matteason wrote:
           | Ha, thanks! You probably saw it when I submitted to Show HN.
           | Hope it's useful!
        
       | ByQuyzzy wrote:
       | WEfax is still useful and it's fun to experiment with different
       | data modes. You don't need an expensive radio or even an SDR to
       | receive it, any cheap used SW receiver will do.
        
       | h4ch1 wrote:
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_QpKGK0tuE
       | 
       | SaveItForParts is a great channel and does interesting
       | explorations and detailed explanations about interacting with
       | satellites :)
        
         | vik0 wrote:
         | I'm glad someone mentioned him. I found his channel a while ago
         | and I really enjoy his stuff!
        
       | dabluecaboose wrote:
       | For anyone who is interested in just getting satellite imagery
       | (though I understand the fun of pulling it out of the air), NOAA
       | makes the GOES imagery available online from static web
       | addresses.
       | 
       | https://cdn.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES16/ABI/CONUS/GEOCOLOR/2...
       | This link will always be the most recent shot of the continental
       | US from GOES-16 (which is currently GOES-EAST)
       | 
       | https://cdn.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES18/ABI/CONUS/GEOCOLOR/2...
       | This link will always be the most recent shot of the Pacific and
       | West Coast US from GOES-17 (which is currently GOES-WEST)
       | 
       | If you go to the base directories you can hunt around for
       | different resolutions or for all kinds of other products, like
       | full-disk images or even the lightning mapper.
       | 
       | I used to have a script that pulled the CONUS and FD (Full Disk)
       | shots every 10 minutes. The goal was to auto-update my desktop
       | wallpaper to the most recent imagery, but that proved to be
       | frustratingly annoying to implement. Still, it was very cool to
       | have an entire years worth of imagery at 10 minute intervals when
       | I left it abandoned and it just kept running.
        
         | enriquto wrote:
         | > For anyone who is interested in just getting satellite
         | imagery (though I understand the fun of pulling it out of the
         | air)
         | 
         | If you download satellite images from the internet, but you are
         | connected via wifi, you are still pulling them out of the air,
         | aren't you?
         | 
         | Behold the amazing Copernicus program, paid for by all European
         | citizens:
         | 
         | https://dataspace.copernicus.eu/
         | 
         | It provides a nice API to download many satellite images in
         | bulk: optical, radar, multispectral and hyperspectral images of
         | various types are available for free. That's about one TB of
         | Earth images acquired per hour, and all of them are archived
         | for ever and for all to see.
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | with a fun little shell script, you can curl/wget your way into
         | doing this automagically for you.* i did this with imagery for
         | NASA images to create custom timelapse sequences of the sun
         | from SOHO. they have a similar fixed folder structure for the
         | frequency filters and image dimensions. it created an art
         | exhibit that would keep the previous 24 hours of data current.
         | 
         | *beware, using wget will prove you are evilHacker in certain
         | jurisdictions. /s
        
         | Solvency wrote:
         | Is it possible to build a smooth hires animation of these? How
         | often are the images updated?
        
           | dabluecaboose wrote:
           | Every ~10 minutes. It looks pretty smooth.
           | 
           | NOAA/NESDIS actually has animations posted on their website: 
           | https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes/conus_band.php?sat=G16.
           | ..
        
             | Solvency wrote:
             | Too bad there's no way to hide the ugly pixelated
             | state/country borders to just see the beautiful raw
             | photography.
        
               | dabluecaboose wrote:
               | The Full-Disk images don't have the baked-in borders:
               | 
               | https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes/fulldisk_band.php?s
               | at=...
        
           | lxe wrote:
           | https://rammb-slider.cira.colostate.edu/ has a UI for this
        
         | mthoms wrote:
         | Do you still have the image archive? I started collecting them
         | at New Years with a script (Goes x 2, Himiwari-8, EU Metsat)
         | and would love to be able to get older imagery. I'm more than
         | happy to pay for any bandwidth costs, etc if you can share the
         | archive.
        
           | dabluecaboose wrote:
           | I don't, unfortunately. It occurred to me that I wasn't doing
           | anything with the almost terabyte of images and didn't even
           | have any ideas of _what_ I would do, so I deleted it.
        
             | mthoms wrote:
             | No worries. It is indeed tons of data. I've already stored
             | 200GB+ and I just started on Jan 1st.
        
           | redavni wrote:
           | Google Cloud and AWS host the netcdf GOES archives among
           | others. They are all there.
           | 
           | https://console.cloud.google.com/marketplace/product/noaa-
           | pu...
        
             | mthoms wrote:
             | I appreciate the response, this is good to know. I
             | apologize for not being clearer but what I'm specifically
             | looking for is the "GeoColor" full-disk imagery [0], which
             | I don't think is archived anywhere (beyond a couple weeks
             | worth). That imagery is generated from the raw data you
             | linked, but sadly the code isn't publicly available.
             | 
             | There is a good amount of material around the techniques
             | used to generate the GeoColor images [1][2] but
             | understanding it well enough to implement it is a little
             | above me.
             | 
             | If any HN'er can code up something like this, I'd
             | definitely be interested in talking with them.
             | 
             | [0] https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/fulldisk_band.php
             | ?sat=... [1] https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes/document
             | s/QuickGuide_C... [2] https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/jou
             | rnals/atot/37/3/JTECH-D...
        
         | cocostation wrote:
         | Most commercial EO vendors have imagery sets freely available.
         | 
         | https://www.maxar.com/open-data
         | 
         | https://www.capellaspace.com/gallery/
         | 
         | You need to apply for a key here:
         | https://developers.planet.com/open/
         | 
         | AWS Hosts Earth Observation data here:
         | 
         | https://registry.opendata.aws/?search=tags:gis,earth%20obser...
         | 
         | Also, Microsofts Plantary Computer has a bunch of open data as
         | well.
        
         | lxe wrote:
         | I use the CSU's RAMMB SLIDER UI at https://rammb-
         | slider.cira.colostate.edu/
        
       | matthewaveryusa wrote:
       | Has anyone had any luck with a pvc qfh helix antenna like this
       | one?
       | 
       | https://www.instructables.com/NOAA-Satellite-Signals-with-a-...
       | 
       | I already have an rtl-sdr picking up aircraft beacons and have
       | this antenna on my todo list. Are there any benefits to buying a
       | grid antenna vs DIYing my own helix?
        
         | cocostation wrote:
         | I tried that project and couldn't pick anything up. When the
         | satellite was passing overhead, the antenna just couldn't pick
         | up the signal. I have coworkers that got it to work, so I think
         | either I configured the wiring on the antenna incorrectly (the
         | directions weren't very clear to me), used the wrong type of
         | coax, or my soldering was too sloppy (or a combination of A, B
         | and C).
         | 
         | I'd love to see more demos on how to make the QFH antenna.
        
       | Rallen89 wrote:
       | For EU people, this is a US geostationary satellite so no luck
       | there, We have meteosat but its encrypted and have to pay a fee
       | to use :( , even the russian (non geostationary meteor series)
       | can be accessed freely.
        
         | matteason wrote:
         | It is possible to receive images from the NOAA satellites
         | outside the US though, since they're polar-orbiting:
         | https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-receiving-noaa-weat...
        
         | amatecha wrote:
         | GOES sats are geostationary but the NOAA APT satellites are
         | encircling the planet and you can pick them up. Old tutorial
         | but still relevant, just use "noaa-apt" tool[0] instead of
         | WXtoImg. https://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-receiving-
         | noaa-weat...
         | 
         | [0] https://github.com/martinber/noaa-apt
        
       | jp42 wrote:
       | any recommendation for tutorial to build receiver for to get live
       | satellite data?
        
         | redavni wrote:
         | The Thought Emporium made a great series on this. There are
         | more these days though.
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGWFg7EDnyY
        
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       (page generated 2024-02-09 23:01 UTC)