Reading Comprehension

Since the 1960s, the United States has operated two separate operational polar-orbiting meteorological satellite systems. These satellites obtain environmental data that are processed to provide graphical weather images and specialized weather products, and that are the predominant input to numerical weather prediction models-all used by weather forecasters, the military, and the public. Polar satellites also provide data used to monitor environmental phenomena, such as ozone depletion and drought conditions, as well as data sets that are used by researchers for a variety of studies, such as climate monitoring.

Unlike geostationary satellites, which maintain a fixed position above the earth, polar-orbiting satellites constantly circle the earth in an almost north-south orbit, providing global coverage of conditions that affect the weather and climate. Each satellite makes about 14 orbits a day. As the earth rotates beneath it, each satellite views the entire earth's surface twice a day. Today, there are two operational polar-orbiting satellites and two operational defense satellites that are positioned so that they can observe the earth in early morning, mid-morning, and early afternoon polar orbits. Together, they ensure that for any region of the earth, the data provided to users are generally no more than 6 hours old.

Polar satellites gather a broad range of data that are transformed into a variety of products for many different uses. When first received, satellite data are considered raw data. To make them usable, the processing centers format the data so that they are time-sequenced and include earth location and calibration information. After formatting, these data are called raw data records. The centers further process these raw data records into data sets, called sensor data records and temperature data records. These data records are then used to derive weather products called environmental data records (EDR). EDRs range from atmospheric products detailing cloud coverage, temperature, humidity, and ozone distribution; to land surface products showing snow cover, vegetation, and land use; to ocean products depicting sea surface temperatures, sea ice, and wave height; to characterizations of the space environment. Combinations of these data records (raw, sensor, temperature, and environmental data records) are also used to derive more sophisticated products, including outputs from numerical weather models and assessments of climate trends.


Which of the following can be properly inferred from the second paragraph of the passage?


(A) If only two satellites were operational, the data provided to users for any given area would never be more than 6 hours old.

(B) The orbiting of satellites often actually affects the weather and climate conditions in the areas that they are observing.

(C) No satellites in space are capable of returning anything other than raw data, which must be processed on the ground.

(D) Every spot on Earth is being seen by at least one polar-orbiting satellite at any given time.

(E) It takes about 7 full orbits of a polar-orbiting satellite to see the entire surface of the Earth