Comparing the capabilities of GOES-16 and GOES-17 weather satellites
Welcome to Flare Compare, where we compare everything space-related. Today, we're going to take a look at the GOES-16 and GOES-17 weather satellites and compare their capabilities.
Overview of GOES-16 and GOES-17
GOES stands for "Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite". GOES-16 and GOES-17 are both part of the same series of satellites operated by the US' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These satellites provide critical data for weather forecasting, storm tracking, and environmental monitoring.
GOES-16 was launched in November 2016 and is currently stationed over the western hemisphere at a longitude of 75° West. GOES-17 was launched in March 2018 and is stationed over the eastern Pacific at a longitude of 137° West. Together, they provide full-disk coverage of the Americas every 5 minutes.
Key Differences
While GOES-16 and GOES-17 are part of the same series of satellites, they do have some key differences in their capabilities. Here are the main ones:
Instruments
Both GOES-16 and GOES-17 have the same set of instruments onboard. These include the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), and the Space Environment In-Situ Suite (SEISS). However, GOES-17 also has a new instrument called the Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS), which measures solar radiation in different wavelengths.
Positioning
As previously mentioned, GOES-16 and GOES-17 are stationed over different parts of the world. This means they have different coverage areas, with GOES-16 covering North and South America and GOES-17 covering the western United States and the Pacific Ocean.
Anomaly
GOES-17 experienced a problem with its ABI instrument shortly after launch which caused some of its channels to be unusable during certain times of the day. This problem has since been fixed, but it did mean that GOES-16 was the primary weather satellite for the Americas during that time.
Conclusion
In summary, there are some key differences in the capabilities of GOES-16 and GOES-17 weather satellites which affect their positioning and coverage areas. However, they both have the same set of instruments onboard, with GOES-17 having an additional instrument to measure solar radiation.
At the end of the day, both satellites are critical for weather forecasting and environmental monitoring, and their data is used to save lives and protect property.
We hope you enjoyed this comparison and learned something new. Stay tuned for more from Flare Compare!
References
- NOAA Geostationary Satellites: https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/goes
- GOES-17 ABI Performance Issue: https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Operations/GOES/GOES17ABIperformance.html