Mode 6 Testing with GOES-17
GOES-17 11.2 µm (Infrared Window Channel) Full Disk Images, 0915 – 1510 UTC on 25 September. Note the cadence change at 1300 UTC: every 15 minutes before 1300 UTC, every ten minutes after (Click to animate)
GOES-17 imagery shown here is preliminary and non-operational.
The default scanning strategy for the Advanced Baseline Imager on GOES-16 is Mode 3, also known as Flex Mode. In Mode 3, there are 2 Mesoscale Sectors scanned every minute, a CONUS sector scanned every 5 minutes, and a Full Disk image scanned every 15 minutes. GOES-17 is undergoing Mode 6 scanning, starting today, and proceeding into early October. In Mode 6, there will continue to be two Mesoscale sectors scanned every minute, and a CONUS sector scanned every 5 minutes. However, Full Disk imagery will be scanned every 10 minutes, rather than every 15. 6 Full Disk images each hour would align GOES-17 (and GOES-16, when and if this becomes operational) with default Full Disk imagery scanning on Himawari.
The animation of Full-Disk imagery above, showing Band 14 (11.2 µm), the window channel, on GOES-17, shows that Mode 6 scanning — every 10 minutes — started at 1300 UTC on 25 September. Prior to that time, Mode 3 scanning — every 15 minutes — was occurring. GOES-16 Scanning remains Mode 3.
Added: Simultaneous GOES-16/GOES-17 Mode 4 (Continuous Full Disk — the highest data rate from the ABI) testing is planned for 1 October 2018.