During Hurricane Harvey, which caused record flooding in Houston, emergency managers relied on data from stream gauges rebroadcast through geostationary weather satellites. This image of Hurricane Harvey was captured Aug. 16 by the Advanced Baseline Imager on GOES-16.

Growing demand by terrestrial wireless firms threatens the federal government’s exclusive use of spectrum traditionally reserved for NOAA satellite broadcasts to emergency managers, meteorologists and researchers.

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Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is a recipient...