HYFOR: Commercial Solution for Weather Forecasting

SaraniaSat will adapt its commercially successful, high spatial and temporal resolution, hyperspectral imaging, remote-sensing solution to create HYFOR for use by the USAF 557th Weather Wing (557WW) and its customer, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Currently, the 557 WW’s Land Information System ingests remote-sensing data provided by several satellites including MODIS and LandSat. However, these sources do not possess the desired combination of high spatial, temporal and spectral resolution imagery required for accurate estimation of reservoirs and snow cover properties. HYFOR will solve the important problems of accurate measurements by LIS of water resources such as reservoirs and snow cover characterization faced by the USACE Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) and the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL). The economic impact of the HYFOR solution affects both the warfighter and every sector of the US economy running into several trillion dollars. The primary benefit of HYFOR will be improved forecasting and early warning of impending, weather-related disasters that could be either averted or minimized through appropriate action. Therefore, in collaboration with the USAF 557WW, NASA, USACE-CHL and CRREL, SaraniaSat proposes to create the HYFOR solution for improved estimation of water resources and snow cover for government use.