User Segment
The DMSP User Segment supports the users of DMSP satellite data. DMSP data are stored on-board and transmitted once per orbit to strategic users. The data are also transmitted in real time to tactical users. The strategic customers include Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, and the Navy Fleet Numerical Meteorology Oceanographic Center (FNMOC) in Monterey, California. Although neither AFWA nor FNMOC are DMSP agencies, both receive and process DMSP data in combination with meteorological, solar-geophysical, and oceanographic observations from other sources. These users in turn disseminate derived environmental information in various forms to the DOD and other governmental agencies as required. The tactical users of DMSP data include the Receiving Set, Satellite, the Mark IVB series of transportable terminals, and the AN/SMQ-11 Shipboard Receiving Terminals. DSMP data used in typhoon and hurricane reconnaissance mission or Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) is now used in place of WC-130 reconnaissance aircraft in WESTPAC since 1987 and is also important asset fo reconnaissance in Eastern/Southern Pacific and Indian Oceans. Civilian operational weather centers access DMSP data from AFWA via the Shared Processing Network . Any users can access archived DMSP data through NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center's Solar Terrestrial Physics Division (NGDC/STP).
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