When users capture a SatCam observation and submit it to the SatCam server, it helps to check the quality of the cloud products that are created from satellite data. In return for the observation submission, SatCam sends users the satellite image that was captured at their location. The SatCam software supports NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites as well as the NOAA/NASA Suomi-NPP satellite. SatCam images help SSEC to perfect the cloud mask products that are applied to data collected from the satellites. Cloud mask indicates whether a given view of the Earth is obstructed by clouds or aerosol and can be misinterpreted when cloud temperature is too similar to ground temperature.
"SatCam is a great example of a citizen science app that allows anyone with an iPhone to help improve the data products from instruments onboard three flagship Earth science missions,” said Steve Graham, a senior outreach specialist for Global Science and Technology, Inc. at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. He has also been the outreach coordinator for the Aqua mission (formerly PM-1) since March 2000.