I remember learning to forecast the weather in college in the late 2000s. My classmates and I would draw maps using existing weather systems and then look at satellite data to help paint the picture of what would happen in the coming hours and days.
NOAA’s weather satellites were good back then, but compared to those in orbit now, the difference is night and day. As a broadcast meteorologist, I have used the data they provide to deliver life-saving information and advanced warnings to billions of people across the United States and even the Caribbean when threatening weather conditions occur.
When GOES-U launches atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on June 25, it will complement NOAA’s GOES-R weather satellite constellation, expanding the capabilities of its siblings and providing an increased focus on space weather.
NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) are not new; They have been providing scientists with a steady stream of data and images from space since 1975. But advances in technology over the decades and lessons learned from every satellite launched to this point have contributed to a significant improvement in the devices and products this satellite offers. newer models.
The newest constellation of the GOES family launched in November 2016 with the launch of its first satellite, GOES-R, consisting of four satellites. At the time, I was working at KEYT-TV in Santa Barbara, California, and had the opportunity to meet up. an exclusive feature Preliminary data have been made available to scientists in the United States.
I interviewed the team of forecasters in the Los Angeles office of the National Weather Service (NWS) to find out how useful the diversity of images and observations is in each of their different roles. Meteorologists shared how this was incorporated into their forecasts and issued alerts to warn the public of severe weather, as well as how incredible this was compared to anything they had used before.
More than seven years later, with three of the four satellites in the series orbiting Earth, scientists and researchers say they are pleased with the results and how the advanced technology is changing the game.
John Cintineo said, “I think it’s really challenging in thunderstorm forecasts. Meteorologists can see convection developing in near real time, and that gives them more information about the development and severity of the storm, providing better warnings.” NOAA’s National Severe Storm Laboratory (NSSL) told Space.com in an email.
“The GOES-R series not only provides observations where radar coverage is insufficient, but also often provides a strong signal before the radar, for example when a storm is strengthening or weakening. I am sure there are many other advances in forecasts and forecasts. “Environmental monitoring over the last decade,” Cintineo said. “I did it, but this is where I see the improvement most clearly,” he said.
In addition to helping predict severe thunderstorms, each satellite collected imagery and data about heavy rain events that could trigger flooding, detected low clouds and resulting fog, and made significant improvements to forecasts and services used during hurricane season.
“GOES provides our hurricane forecasters with faster, more accurate and detailed data critical to predicting storm intensity, including cloud upper cooling, convective structures, specific characteristics of the eye of the hurricane, upper-level wind speeds and lightning activity.” Graham, director of NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS), told Space.com in an email.
tools as below Advanced Base Viewer (ABI) It has three times more spectral channels, four times better image quality, and five times faster imaging speed than previous GOES satellites. Fixed Lightning Mapper (GLM) It is the first of its kind in orbit in the GOES-R series, allowing scientists to view lightning strikes and ground- and cloud-to-cloud strikes 24/7.
“The GOES-U and GOES-R series satellites provide scientists and forecasters with weather surveillance of the entire western hemisphere at unprecedented spatial and temporal scales,” Cintineo said. said. “Data from these satellites is helping researchers develop new tools and methods to solve problems such as lightning forecasting, identifying sea spray (sea spray is dangerous to sailors), severe weather warnings, and accurate cloud movement prediction. GOES’s tools-R are also advanced “It also helps improve forecasts from global and regional numerical weather models through data assimilation.”
While GOES-U is similar to its siblings, it will be unique in that it will offer improvements to its instruments as scientists learn from the three currently in orbit.
But what will set GOES-U apart will be a new onboard sensor, the Compact Coronagraph (CCOR), that will monitor weather outside Earth’s atmosphere and track what space weather events are occurring that could impact our planet. .
“This will be the first near real-time operational coronagraph that we will have access to. This is a huge leap forward for us because until now, we have always relied on a research coronagraph instrument on a spacecraft that was launched a very long time ago.” at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center ( SWPC) space scientist Rob Steenburgh told Space.com over the phone.
“So it’s very exciting because I won’t have to wait for the data to download anymore because sometimes the available coronagraph images are delayed. Sometimes we wait up to four or eight hours, and each hour counts as the time you’re delayed. Sometimes we have large geomagnetic waves that come to Earth and show us what happened last month.” “We’re dealing with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that produce storms.”
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Steenburgh was a terrestrial weather meteorologist before predicting space weather, and he says this new generation of satellites is hugely important in revolutionizing the way scientists make forecasts. He says advancements in technology since the 1980s have provided Earth and space weather forecasters with the tools to increase their confidence and increase forecast accuracy.
“Probably one of the biggest (changes) was the introduction of Doppler weather radar, which was very surprising to me. What a leap forward it was in terms of capabilities, and so I felt like I was part of the Golden Age of Earth Meteorology,” Steenburgh said. “I moved into space weather around 2005 and was lucky enough to witness a very similar evolution in this field, which was quite surprising. When I started, I had three numerical models that I worked on more or less routinely.
“I now have over 16 observing platforms and more than I could have ever imagined in terms of data quality in terms of temporal and spatial resolution, beyond my wildest dreams. I’m lucky enough to live in another Golden Age,” Steenburgh added.