NOAA

There are three NOAA satellites still active, NOAA 15 / 18 / 19, which broadcast weather images as they pass over New Zealand around dawn and dusk each day.

NOAA 5th generation weather satellite

The have multiple sensors, with two of them being active at a time and will typically capture:

  • Daytime – a visible and an infra-red image
  • Nighttime – two infra-red images
NOAA 18 infra red image showing Cyclone Harold approaching Vanuatu

These images can be processed to produce a whole set of different enhancements which include:

  • Air temperature
  • Sea temperature
  • False colour image highlighting precipitation
NOAA 18 air temperature image

Kiwiweather.com predicts the passes for each NOAA satellite and captures the image data, decoding it into multiple different enhancements and displays the data for each pass with a combination of thumbnails and the full size images.