Fix for GOES-13 Sounder Pixel Drop-outs

By Scott Lindstrom • 24 March 2014

GOES-13 Sounder 10.7 µm imagery without and with Processing Software changes (click to enlarge)

The GOES-13 (GOES-East) Sounder instrument has been experiencing data anomalies that manifest themselves as missing pixels (link, link). These errors occurred because of slight fluctuations in the speed of the sounder filter wheel, resulting in a time offset. Processing software expects the data to be present at a certain time, but because of the filter wheel speed fluctuations, data were not present when expected. All 19 spectral bands on the GOES-13 Sounder were affected.

Missing data can now be reclaimed using a modified version of the SPS (Sensor Processing System), the ground software that makes the GVAR data stream. GOES Engineers have been testing this software change. The test software modifications properly handle the slight differences in the timing of the data. As of this time, a date has not been slated for operational implementation by NOAA NESDIS.

An example with all 19 bands of the GOES-13 Sounder is shown below, with the current pixel drop-outs (top) and after the software changes were applied (bottom) as part of off-line testing (image toggle).

GOES-13 Sounder imagery (all 19 bands) [click to enlarge]

GOES-13 Sounder imagery (all 19 bands) produced with new processing software [click to enlarge]

Categories: Calibration/Anomalies, GOES sounder, GOES-13