GOES Satellite Imagery

goes

The name goes comes from the Chinese word for “game.” It is a strategy game played on a square wooden board (goban) with 181 black and 180 white go-ishi (flat, round pieces). Each player in turn places a stone, called a go, onto a line on the goban.

The goal is to conquer territory by filling in empty areas with your own stones and enclosing vacant points with boundaries made of your own stones. The game originated at least 2500 – 4000 years ago and is still played today.

In addition to being the most widely played strategy game in the world, go is a popular pastime and a traditional Chinese culture activity. It is played at all ages and for a variety of purposes, including business, entertainment, and education. It has become so popular that it has even made its way into the world of chess and computer games.

GOES Imagery

The geostationary satellites in the GOES series view the Earth from a geosynchronous orbit, which is a type of satellite orbit that keeps them at a fixed point on the horizon above the Earth’s surface. This allows them to continually watch the atmosphere and collect data for severe weather evaluations, such as tornadoes, flash floods, hail storms, and hurricanes.

They also provide images of clouds and water vapor to help meteorologists predict the speed, direction and extent of clouds. The satellites can also detect ice formation and map the movements of sea and lake ice to help predict snowfall accumulations.

GOES satellites are important tools for meteorologists because they are constantly monitoring the atmosphere, helping forecasters issue warnings when severe weather is likely. They can tell when a rainstorm is going to develop and where it is likely to track. They can also help determine when a hurricane or snowstorm is going to hit and whether it will be strong enough to cause major damage.

The GOES satellites also help search and rescue teams locate people in the event of an emergency beacon signal, such as fire, flooding or a plane crash. They can relay this information to ground stations.

Satellites of the GOES series have several instruments that measure atmospheric temperature, winds, moisture, and cloud cover in visual and infrared wavelengths. These measurements are used by meteorologists to generate maps and forecasts of the weather.

Another instrument on the GOES satellites is the Advanced Baseline Imager, or ABI, which uses visible and infrared light to create images that can be processed into false-color imagery. This is a complex operation because the ABI does not have a green channel, so a method of color lookup table (CLUT or LUT) must be used to generate the color image.

GOES satellites can see the entire globe from their geosynchronous orbit, and can be updated with imagery every 30 minutes. This is a huge benefit to meteorologists because they can monitor the weather on a global scale and have more time to make accurate forecasts.