NOAA Ups Its Game in Satellite Weather Forecasting

NOAA has delivered its most state-of-the-art satellite into orbit, offering clearer, faster, and more accurate forecasts/severe weather warnings. The GOES-19, the final satellite in the GOES-R series, began operation on April 7th and is the most sophisticated technology ever flown in space to help forecast weather on Earth - the culmination of nearly five decades of research.

GOES-R Series

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA collaborated on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, also known as the GOES-R Series. This collection of four satellites sits above the equator at a speed matching the Earth's rotation, allowing each to view the same area of the Earth at all times. 

The GOES-R satellites cover an area spanning from the west coast of Africa to New Zealand and from near the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic Circle at a rate five times faster with four times the resolution and three times the number of channels than previous satellites. It also updates every 30 seconds, as compared to the 1-2 minute cycles of older satellites.

And there are other benefits the GOES-R program will offer:

• Hurricane tracking and intensity forecasts

• Early warning of straight-line storms, Derechos, and tornadoes

• Wildfire detection, monitoring, and intensity estimation

• Lightning strike identification most likely to ignite fires

• Low cloud and fog detection

• Monitoring of atmospheric river events that can cause flooding and mudslides

• Smoke, dust and aerosols monitoring

• Air quality warnings and alerts data

• Data for aviation route planning and reducing weather-related flight delays

• Volcanic eruption detection and ash and sulfur dioxide monitoring

• Detection of heavy rainfall and flash flood risks.

• Sea surface temperature data for monitoring fisheries and marine life

• Vegetative health monitoring

• Data for long-term climate variability studies

• Detection of meteors entering Earth's atmosphere

• Detection of coronal holes, solar flares, and coronal mass ejection source regions

• Warning of space weather hazards affecting communications/navigation disruptions and power blackouts

• Monitoring of energetic particles responsible for radiation hazards

  
  

Tools like the GOES-R series improve the detection and observation of environmental phenomena that directly affect property protection, public safety, and our country's economic health and prosperity. These satellites will deliver life-saving information well into the 2030s.

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Sources: CBS News, NOAA, weather.gov