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GOES-15 temporarily brought out of storage

By Scott Bachmeier •

Water Vapor images from GOES-17 (6.9 µm, left) and GOES-15 (6.5 µm, right) [click to play animation | MP4]

Water Vapor images from GOES-17 (6.9 µm, left) and GOES-15 (6.5 µm, right) [click to play animation | MP4]

Beginning on 06 February 2021, the GOES-15 satellite was brought out of storage for a 14-day period of imaging (as part of its annual checkout activities). On 10 February, a comparison of Water Vapor images from GOES-17 (6.9 µm) and GOES-15 (6.5 µm) showed mountain waves over southeastern Wyoming and central Colorado (above). This comparison helped to highlight some of the improvements in the GOES-R Series, such as

  •  improved spatial resolution with ABI Water Vapor (and other infrared) spectral bands — 2 km at sub-satellite point for GOES-17, vs 4 km at sub-satellite point for GOES-15
  •  improved temporal resolution — 5-minute image interval for GOES-17, vs 15-minute image interval for GOES-15 (except for 30-minute gaps every 3 hours, during Full Disk scans)
  • more stable image navigation

Multi-panel animations of GOES-15 images from the Imager and Sounder instruments are shown below (credit: Tim Schmit, NOAA/ASPB). In addition, there are animations of GOES-15 Visible and Infrared Window images.

GOES-15 Imager spectral bands [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-15 Imager spectral bands [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-15 Sounder spectral bands [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-15 Sounder spectral bands [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-15 data were downloaded, processed and archived by SSEC Satellite Data Services. Real-time GOES-15 imagery is temporarily available here: Imager | Sounder.

Categories: GOES sounder, GOES-15, GOES-17