Let’s take a moment to appreciate the work NASA does, even if some rappers think they’re just trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

Let’s also appreciate that sometimes much of what they do goes unnoticed, which is why we need to talk about their project that provides “critical operational climate data that is integrated into the weather prediction model used in developing current and extended weather forecasts”.

The Polar Operational Environmental Satellite has been around for decades, and it comes with a pretty decent acronym.

Go on, you can figure it out.

Here’s the program’s home page to make things a little easier:

There it is.

Here’s the overview of what they do:

The POES collect global data on cloud cover; surface conditions such as ice, snow, and vegetation; atmospheric temperatures; and moisture, aerosol, and ozone distributions; and collect and relay information from fixed and moving data platforms. The instruments carried by POES measure energy levels in specific wavelengths, which are telemetered to the ground and input into complex software that generate the products.

GoodThingsGuy points out that some South Africans cottoned on to the project as far back as 2015, but if it all passed you by at least you now know.

NASA POES – maybe that’s what Benni McCarty was actually saying during the Cape derby over the weekend?

[source:goodthingsguy]