GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) is a series of geostationary weather satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that has formed the backbone of short-term weather forecasting in the United States since the late 1970s. The real-time data gathered by GOES satellites, combined with Doppler radar and automated surface observing systems, helps meteorologists provide warnings for thunderstorms, winter storms, flash floods, and hurricanes.
The GOES-R series of satellites, built by NOAA in partnership with NASA and Lockheed Martin, are designed to perform for up to 20 years in geostationary orbit 22,236 miles above the Earth’s equator. Each satellite has three imaging modes that provide meteorologists with a variety of weather observations.
In April 2019, GOES-16 and GOES-17 began operating in a new flex mode called Mode 6. This new mode allows the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) to operate at full-disk scanning every five minutes instead of every 15 minutes, as well as two mesoscale domains (1000 km by 1000 km each) and one Contiguous U.S. (CONUS) scan every 10 minutes.
This feature is expected to significantly enhance the observation of thunderstorms and severe weather in the United States and adjacent areas. It will enable the monitoring of cloud structures, such as squall lines, cold fronts, and occluded fronts. In addition, the ability to monitor regions of turbulence will also be enhanced.
As a part of the GOES-R program, NOAA has worked with L3Harris Technologies to develop a new technique for estimating the optical properties of clouds from ABI imagery. This technique, known as SCOPE (Spectral Cloud Optical Property Estimation), has been successfully tested in the laboratory.
NOAA is analyzing the results of this new analysis to determine how it will be implemented in the operational satellite system. This newest technique, in combination with existing GOES-R algorithms, will provide the meteorological community with more complete and reliable observations of clouds and their properties than ever before.
GOES-T has undergone extensive environmental testing to simulate the extreme conditions it will experience at launch and in space. The satellite recently completed a reverberant acoustics test and a sine vibration test, both of which expose the satellite to the sound and vibrations produced during a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
GOES-T is scheduled to launch on November 16, 2016, from Vandenberg Air Force Base. However, the launch date may be pushed back due to ongoing recovery efforts at the Kennedy Space Center and Vandenberg following hurricane related effects and facilities damage that occurred in October 2016. Upon successful launch and transition to an operational role, GOES-T will be renamed GOES-18. NOAA will spend the next two weeks ensuring all GOES-T systems work properly before moving it into an operational role.