United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2003-07-15 monographic deposited born digital 33 p. GA 1.13:GAO-03-987T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-987T P0b002ee18038e500 f:d03987t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-987T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-987T GAO-03-987T Climate statistics Satellites Weather forecasting Schedule slippages Financial management National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Testimony A07554 Polar-orbiting environmental satellites provide data and imagery that are used by weather forecasters, climatologists, and the military to map and monitor changes in weather, climate, the ocean, and the environment. The current polar satellite program is a complex infrastructure that includes two satellite systems, supporting ground stations, and four central data processing centers. In the future, the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) is to merge the two current satellite systems into a single state-of-the-art environment monitoring satellite system. This new $7 billion satellite system is considered critical to the United States' ability to maintain the continuity of data required for weather forecasting and global climate monitoring through the year 2018. In its testimony GAO was asked, among other topics, to discuss risks to the success of the NPOESS deployment. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-987T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-987T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-987T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-987T.pdf GAO-03-987T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-987T Testimony GAO-03-987T; Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellites: Project Risks Could Affect Weather Data Needed by Civilian and Military Users; Climate statistics Satellites Weather forecasting Schedule slippages Financial management National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System