Uploaded June 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Built by Harris Corporation, the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) is one of the top contributors to weather forecast accuracy out to seven days. CrIS produces detailed three-dimensional temperature, pressure, and moisture profiles from space. Understanding how each element varies with altitude is critical to producing an accurate weather forecast. This animation of CrIS data shows temperature at different altitudes as the earth spins.
CrIS captures data across more than 2,000 “slices” of the atmosphere from near Earth’s surface up to around 30 kilometers, compared to only 19 slices by previous instruments. This allows CrIS to observe the vertical structure of the atmosphere in much finer detail than ever before. The first CrIS instrument operates on board the NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite which launched in 2011. The second instrument is ready to launch on NOAA’s JPSS-1 satellite.
Built by Harris Corporation, the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) is one of the top contributors to weather forecast accuracy out to seven days. CrIS produces detailed three-dimensional temperature, pressure, and moisture profiles from space. Understanding how each element varies with altitude is critical to producing an accurate weather forecast. This animation of CrIS data shows temperature at different altitudes as the earth spins.
CrIS captures data across more than 2,000 “slices” of the atmosphere from near Earth’s surface up to around 30 kilometers, compared to only 19 slices by previous instruments. This allows CrIS to observe the vertical structure of the atmosphere in much finer detail than ever before. The first CrIS instrument operates on board the NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite which launched in 2011. The second instrument is ready to launch on NOAA’s JPSS-1 satellite.
