Brazil

The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) is a Brazilian federal organization dedicated to space research and exploration, created in 1961. The institute has facilities in twelve cities and the Center of Excellence is located in Cachoeira Paulista, São Paulo.

Created in 1986 and acting as a Vlab CoE serving the Brazilian community since 2007, the Meteorological Satellites and Sensors Division (DISSM) has organized several in person and virtual training events on various topics related to Satellite Meteorology.

Also, in a fruitful long-term collaboration with NOAA, it regularly participates in the international trainings on satellite applications.

Having as its mission the carrying out of scientific research based on data and measurements from meteorological and environmental satellites, the Division develops methods of observation and estimation of atmospheric and surface variables.

Acting in different areas of research and applications, such as precipitation, radiation, oceanography, atmospheric motion vectors, fire detection, nowcasting, lightning and RGB composites, the CoE also has the ability to receive, disseminate, process and visualize near real-time data from several geostationary and low-earth orbit satellites. The DSAT visualization tool, developed by the CoE, is a great example: cptec.inpe.br/dsat/

GEONETCast-Americas Training - Hands-on session (2016). More than 40 representatives (meteorologists and technicians) from 25 Brazilian institutions from all over the country were trained in satellite data access, processing, visualization and interpretation.

These activities are aimed at generating information and products operationally, to be used for the monitoring of weather and for assimilation into numerical weather prediction models, as well as providing to the user community a variety of meteorological and environmental products.

With projects like GoAmazon, Chuva, LBA and CAFE-Brazil, the CoE also collaborates in experimental campaigns to help validate and use satellite products for a better understanding of the meteorological processes that happen in the tropical region by combining in-situ and remote sensing data.

New generation of satellites: DISSM team at the inauguration of the GOES-R GRB station, in February 2020. Since then, near real-time imagery from GOES-16 is available to the community on the DSAT online visualization interface.

The researchers from the CoE teach at INPE’s Postgraduate Course in Meteorology (PGMET), the oldest in Brazil, aiming to train human resources at the master’s and doctoral levels. Since its beginnings in 1968, dozens of doctors and hundreds of masters have been trained. The course received three awards in the area of Geosciences (2005, 2011 and 2017) and the number of doctoral students with the opportunity to work in the academic and scientific areas abroad after completing their thesis has increased in recent years, placing PGMET also in the spotlight, internationally, in the training of human resources.

CoE Research and Application Areas - The researchers and technologists collaborate as trainers in the VLab related activities.

CoE Contact Information

Dr. Renato Galante

Head of Division

Diego Souza

Engineer