After the launches of the Soviet and American satellites the issue of practical use of the developed equipment came up. The capabilities of the equipment and the satellites themselves attracted the attention of meteorologists in terms of obtaining regular information about the constantly changing weather on a global scale.
The first attempt in this direction was made by the Americans, who created a family of meteorological satellites "Tiros". Nine such satellites were put into orbit in 1960-1965. Two small TV cameras were installed on each satellite and a scanning infrared radiometer was installed on about a half of the satellites in order to get an image of the Earth's cloud cover. The Meteor satellite became a meteorological spacecraft in Russia. Two or three satellites of this series are in orbit at the same time and collect information about the state of the atmosphere, thermal radiation of the Earth, etc. The payload of a satellite consists of optical-mechanical TV equipment operating in the visible spectrum area. In addition, there is a scanning infrared equipment for obtaining data on the moisture content of the atmosphere and the vertical temperature profile. Warnings about sudden changes in weather are transmitted by radio from Moscow, St. Petersburg and other centres using combined data from meteorological radar stations and satellites, and a special service reports this information to ships and aircraft. Over the past 20 years, the quantity, quality and reliability of satellite imagery has increased significantly.
Since 1966, the Earth has been photographed regularly at least once a day. Photographs are used in daily work and also placed in archives. Meteorological information from satellites is becoming increasingly important. It is now widely used by meteorologists and environmentalists around the world in everyday practice and is considered almost indispensable for analysis and short-term forecasts. Meteorological information from all over the world is sent to the National Environmental Satellite Service in Washington, D.C., which processes it into a wide range of materials and distributes them around the world. Satellite information has proven particularly useful in two areas of research. First, there are vast areas of the Earth from which meteorological information, by conventional means, is not available. These are the oceans of the northern and southern hemispheres, deserts and polar regions. Satellite information fills these gaps by identifying large-scale features from cloud formations. Such features include storm systems, fronts, the most significant interwave trenches and ridges, dense fog jet currents, layered clouds, ice conditions, snow cover and partly the direction and speed of the strongest winds. Second, satellite information has been used successfully to track hurricanes, typhoons and tropical storms. Satellite information includes data on the presence and location of atmospheric fronts, storms and general cloud cover. As a result, the satellite has now become an almost recognized tool for meteorologists in most countries of the world. The weather maps that appear on our television screens in the evening clearly show the value of satellite observations in providing meteorological systems.