The TIROS Program (Television Infrared Observation Satellite) was NASA's first experimental step to determine if satellites could be useful in the study of the Earth.

TIROS

1960

2010

The images above show the stark contrast between the first image beamed down from TIROS-1 on April 1, 1960 and the full-color full-Earth images that GOES-8 produces everythree hours. But, if it hadn't been for TIROS and the TIROS experiment, there would be no GOES images today.

4

GOES-13

GOES-13/O/P has similar instruments to GOES-8-12, but on a different spacecraft bus.

Spring and fall eclipse outages will be avoided by larger onboard batteries.

Improved navigation

Improved radiometrics

GOES-8/12

GOES-13/O/P

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GOES-12/13 (During eclipse)

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ure

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CIM

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-13

GO

ES

-12

Satellites

Geostationary Satellites GOES 8-12

Geostationary satellites were placed in orbit over the equator; they remain fixed over a point. To keep the satellite in place over Earth the satellite must orbit at a farther distance than polar orbiters (35,000 km). Some resolution is lost but the static orbit makes these very powerful satellites.

Satellites

Polar Satellites

Polar orbiting satellites orbit the globeat low altitudes (a few hundred km)which allows them to complete onepass in 100 minutes. With such a quick orbit the satellite can capture two sweeps of the globe in 24 hours.

NOAA's National Environmental Satellite,Data and Information Service NESDIS operates the satellites and manages the processing and distributionof millions of bits of data and images these satellites produce daily. The prime customer for the satellite data is NOAA's National Weather Service, which uses satellite data to create forecasts for television, radio, and weatheradvisory services.

NOAA's operational environmental satellite system is composed of: geostationary operational environmental satellites (GOES) for short-rangewarning and "nowcasting," and polar-orbiting environmental satellites (POES)for longer term forecasting. Both kinds of satellites are necessary for providing a complete global weather monitoring system. The satellites carrysearch and rescue instruments, and have helped save the lives of about 10,000 people to date. The satellites are also used to support aviation safety(volcanicash detection), and maritime/shipping safety (ice monitoring and prediction).

NESDIS

Around the world...around the clock...NOAA proudly stands watch. As an integral part of worldwide search and rescue, NOAA operates the Search & Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) System to locate those in distress almost anywhere in the world at anytime and in most conditions. The SARSAT system uses NOAA satellites in low-earth and geostationary orbits to detect and locate aviators, mariners, and land-based users in distress. The satellites relay distress signals from emergency beacons to a network of ground stations and ultimately to the U.S. Mission Control Center (USMCC) in Suitland, Maryland. The USMCC processes the distress signal and alerts the appropriate search and rescue authorities to who is in distress and, more importantly, where they are located. Truly, SARSAT takes the "search" out of search and rescue.  

SARSAT

GOES-13/14/15 (N/O/P, 2010 to 2020) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite GOES-13 is currently GOES-East / GOES-14 is GOES-WEST Imager has five channels

Visible at 1 km spatial resolution Shortwave IR, Water Vapor, Clean IR Window at 4 km Dirty IR Window at 8 km on 13, 4 km on 14/15 Depending on scan strategy, new CONUS image every 15

minutes Sounder has nineteen channels

One visible channel, 18 infrared channels for temperature and moisture soundings, including 3 water vapor channels and one ozone channel, all at approximately 8 km resolution

Available approximately once per hour, US only

GOES-R/S Series (2017 to 2028) Launching in 2016, GOES-R is expected to be GOES-

West Two meteorological instruments The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) will provide

5x more frequent scans (5 minute for full disk, 30 second refresh for single mesoscale sector),

4x improved temporal resolution (2 km at sub-satellite point, except 0.5 km visible), and

3x more spectral channels (16 total, including 4 in the near-IR and 10 in the IR) than currently on GOES-13/14/15 (N/O/P)

An optical sensor on the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) will provide continuous lightning flash rates

No Sounder!

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The Advanced Baseline Imager: ABI Current

Spectral Coverage16 bands 5 bands

Spatial resolution 0.64 m Visible 0.5 km Approx. 1 kmOther Visible/near-IR 1.0 km n/aBands (>2 m) 2 km Approx. 4 km

Spatial coverageFull disk 4 per hour Scheduled (3 hrly)CONUS 12 per hour ~4 per hourMesoscale Every 30 sec n/a

Visible (reflective bands) On-orbit calibration Yes No

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ABI Visible/Near-IR Bands

Schmit et al, 2005

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ABI IR Bands

Schmit et al, 2005

15The ABI visible and near-IR bands have many uses.

Visible and near-IR channels on the ABI

Haze

Clouds

Veg.

Cirrus

Part. s

ize

Snow, P

hase

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Using satellite observations (MODIS, MET-8 and AIRS) to simulate the ABI

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The additional bands on the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) allow new or improved products

“0.64 m” “0.86 m” “1.38 m”

“1.61 m” “2.26 m” “3.9 m” “6.19 m”

“6.95 m” “7.34 m”

“0.47 m”

“8.5 m” “9.61 m”

“10.35 m” “11.2 m” “12.3 m” “13.3 m”

Aerosols VegetationCirrus Clouds

Snow, Cloud phase

Particle size

Water VaporWV, Upper-

level SO2Vol. Ash, Cloud phase

Total Ozone

Low-levelMoisture

Surface features, clouds

Clouds, Precip.,SST

Fog, Fires, clouds, etc

Water Vapor, Precip.

Cloud heights

Clouds, etc

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There are two anticipated scan modes for the ABI:- Full disk images every 15 minutes + 5 min CONUS images +

mesoscale. or - Full disk every 5 minutes.

ABI scans about 5 times fasterthan the current GOES imager

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ABI can offer Continental US images every 5 minutes for routine monitoring of a wide range of events (storms, dust, clouds, fires,

winds, etc).This is every 15 or 30 minutes with the current GOES in routine

mode.

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21

Mesoscale images every 30 seconds for rapidly changing phenomena (thunderstorms,

hurricanes, fires, etc). Current GOES can not offer these rapid scans while still scanning

other important regions

“Franklin”

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Imager Coverage in ~30 minutes

Current Imager

(Rapid Scan mode)

Future Imager

(“Flex” mode)

Full Disk 0 2

Northern Hemi 1 -

CONUS 3 6

Mesoscale 0 60

Full Disk N. Hemisphere CONUS Mesoscale

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15-min time resolution “loop”

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1-min time resolution loop

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GOES

Figure courtesy of K. Bedka and W. Feltz, CIMSS

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“ABI”

Figure courtesy of K. Bedka and W. Feltz, CIMSS

Simulated ABI Band 8 (6.19 µm)

Weighting function for US Standard profile indicates sensitivity to upper tropospheric moisture

Simulated ABI Band 9 (6.95 µm)

Weighting function for US Standard profile indicates sensitivity to upper middle tropospheric moisture

Simulated ABI Band 10 (7.34 µm)

Weighting function for US Standard profile indicates sensitivity to lower middle tropospheric moisture

Weighting function for US Standard profile indicates sensitivity to ozone

Simulated ABI Band 12 (9.61 µm)

Building an RGB: Band 8 – Band 10

Red with alpha gradient (upper – lower tropospheric moisture different), white with alpha gradient (clouds)

Building an RGB: Band 12 – Band 13

Green with alpha gradient (brighter high ozone concentration indicative of lower potential vorticity surfaces)

Building an RGB: Band 8 Inverted

Blue with alpha gradient (brighter blues indicate dryer upper tropospheric air, dry slot)

Building an RGB: Composite

Composite clearly indicates trough over western United States, dry slot, and differential tropospheric moisture

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GOES-R ABI will detect SO2 plumesWater Vapor Band Difference convolved from AIRS data

sees SO2 plume from Montserrat Island, West Indies

Current GOES Imager can not detect SO2

Current G

OES Imager

No skill

in monitorin

g

ABI 7.34 μm – 13.3 μm

SO2 Plume

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Synthetic 2 km GOES-R ABI WV Imagery

Synthetic 2 km GOES-R ABI WV Imagery

• Waves are evident in all three ~2 km ABI WV channels, with wave Waves are evident in all three ~2 km ABI WV channels, with wave spatial patterns being far clearer than current GOES-12spatial patterns being far clearer than current GOES-12

• 3 ABI WV channels could provide information on mountain wave 3 ABI WV channels could provide information on mountain wave amplitude, as they detect peak signal from differing heightsamplitude, as they detect peak signal from differing heights

Observed GOES-12 Band 3 (6.5 micron)Observed GOES-12 Band 3 (6.5 micron) Simulated ABI Band 8 (6.2 micron)Simulated ABI Band 8 (6.2 micron)

Simulated ABI Band 9 (7.0 micron)Simulated ABI Band 9 (7.0 micron) Simulated ABI Band 10 (7.3 micron)Simulated ABI Band 10 (7.3 micron)

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nd W

. F

eltz

, C

IMS

S

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GOES-R Simulated 3.9 micron DataPadua/Grand Prix FiresDate: 27-Oct-03 Time: 09:50 UTC

GOES-12 Simulated 3.9 micron DataPadua/Grand Prix FiresDate: 27-Oct-03 Time: 09:50 UTC

Brightness Temperature (K)

GOES-R and GOES-I/M GOES-R and GOES-I/M Simulations of Southern California FiresSimulations of Southern California Fires

1212Figure courtesy of Elaine Prins

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Three-color composite (0.64, 1.6 and 11 µm) shows the low cloud over the snow and the water versus ice clouds.

Low cloud

Snow

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Example: AWG MVFR Probability (Day)

The probability of MVFR product reports the probability that the cloud ceiling is < 3000 feet, regardless of surface visibility.

Example: AWG IFR Probability (Day)

The probability of IFR product reports the probability that the cloud ceiling is < 1000 feet, regardless of surface visibility.

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GOES-R ABI Weighting Functions

ABI has 1 CO2 band, so upper-level temperature will be degraded compared to the current sounder

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GOES-13 Sounder WFs

The GOES-N sounder has 5 CO2 bands, more Shortwave bands than ABI

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Satellite-derived winds will be improved with the ABI due to:- higher spatial resolution (better edge detection)- more frequent images (offers different time intervals)- better cloud height detection (with multiple bands)- new bands may allow new wind products- better NEdT’s- better navigation/registration

Satellite-derived winds

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Current GOES Sounder spectral coverage and that possible from an advanced high-spectral sounder. The broad-band nature of the current GOES limits the vertical resolution.

Example spectral coverage

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The ABI improves over the current GOES Imager the spectral, temporal, spatial and radiometric performance.

The great amount of information from the GOES-R will offer a continuation of current products (precipitation, atmospheric motion vectors, SST, radiances, hurricane intensity, dust, fog, smoke, fires, clouds, etc) and new products (upper-level SO2, vegetation, cloud micro-physics, atmospheric waves, etc).

The potential benefits of ABI on the GOES-R series goes beyond the benefits of the current system by more than $4B.

Summary