Weather support for the Earth Resources Technology Satellite

The operational plans for ERTS include cloud-cover forecasting as a means of preventing the limited lifetime of the spacecraft's tape recorder to be used up on useless imagery. Each day, a forecast of the cloud cover is prepared for all land areas beneath the satellite's track and some adjacent ocean areas for each of the next day's 14 passes. The forecasts are transmitted by facsimile to the ERTS Operations Control Center at 4:00 p.m. each day, where they are used to plan the next day's operations. The forecasting techniques employed are described.