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GOES-17 arrives at its GOES-West position of 137.2º W longitude

By Scott Bachmeier •

Full Disk images of the 16 ABI bands from GOES-17 [click to play MP4 animation]

1500 UTC Full Disk images of the 16 ABI bands from GOES-17 [click to play MP4 animation]

* GOES-17 images posted here are preliminary and non-operational *

GOES-17 arrived at its GOES-West position of 137.2º W longitude on 13 November 2018, and began to transmit imagery via GOES Re-Broadcast (GRB) at 1500 UTC and the AWIPS Satellite Broadcast Network (SBN) at 1700 UTC on 15 November (NOAA/NESDIS article). A toggle between Full Disk images of the 16 ABI spectral bands from GOES-17 at 1500 UTC is shown above, with a 16-panel multi-band animation from 1515-2300 UTC shown below..

Full Disk images from the 16 ABI bands of GOES-17 [click to play MP4 animation]

Full Disk images from the 16 ABI bands of GOES-17 [click to play MP4 animation]

Full Disk GOES-17 Low-level (7.3 µm), Mid-level (6.9 µm) and Upper-level (6.2 µm) Water Vapor images  are shown below.

GOES-17 Low-level (7.3 µm), Mid-level (6.9 µm) and Upper-level (6.2 µm) Water Vapor images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-17 Low-level (7.3 µm), Mid-level (6.9 µm) and Upper-level (6.2 µm) Water Vapor images [click to play animation | MP4]

The improved spatial resolution of GOES-17 (vs GOES-15) was very obvious at higher latitudes — a closer look at GOES-17 Water Vapor imagery (below) showed good detail associated with a gale-force occluded low in the Gulf of Alaska and a weaker low in the Bering Sea (surface analyses). Note that signatures of the higher terrain of mountain ranges across south-central and southeastern Alaska could be seen on the 7.3 µm and to a lesser extent the 6.9 µm images.

GOES-17 Low-level (7.3 µm), Mid-level (6.9 µm) and Upper-level (6.2 µm) Water Vapor images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-17 Low-level (7.3 µm), Mid-level (6.9 µm) and Upper-level (6.2 µm) Water Vapor images [click to play animation | MP4]

After sunrise, GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (below) provided a compelling view of the snow-covered Alaska Range (which includes Denali at 20,320 feet / 6,194 meters), the Wrangell Mountains (which includes Mt. Wrangell at 14,163 feet / 4,317 meters) and the Chugach Mountains (which includes Mount Marcus Baker, 13,176 feet / 4,016 meters). In particular, note the long shadows cast by Denali and the Alaska Range in the upper left portion of the images.

GOES-17

GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with hourly plots of surface reports [click to play animation | MP4]

For a short time a GOES-17 Mesoscale Domain Sector was positioned over Hawai’i, providing images at 1-minute intervals (below).

GOES-17

GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with hourly plots of surface observations [click to play animation | MP4]

Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands could be seen on the far western limb of Full Disk GOES-17 images (below). A few isolated tropical thunderstorms could be seen developing and collapsing in the vicinity of the islands.

GOES-17 "Red" Visible (0.64 µm) images, with hourly plots of surface observations [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with hourly plots of surface observations [click to play animation | MP4]

A portion of West Antarctica could be seen on the far southern limb of GOES-17 Full Disk images, along with a storm system in the South Pacific Ocean (below). Through gaps in the clouds, the northern edge of the Antarctic sea ice (source) was also evident in the Visible imagery.

GOES-17 "Red" Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

Over the Lower 48 states, AWIPS images of 1-minute GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) data (below) showed the smoke and thermal anomaly (darker red pixels near the center of the images) associated with the ongoing Camp Fire in northern California.

GOES-17

GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images, with hourly plots of surface reports [click to play animation | MP4]

Farther to the south in central California, a comparison of 1-minute Shortwave Infrared images from GOES-16 (GOES-East) and GOES-17 revealed differences in the size and orientation of hot pixels of the Adler/Mountaineer/Moses Fires burning northeast of Porterville KPTV  in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. These differences were due to the view angle from the 2 satellites — 62 degrees from GOES-16 over the Atlantic Ocean, vs. only 41 degrees from GOES-17 over the Pacific Ocean. There was a navigational jump with GOES-17 from 1831-1837 UTC, so those images were removed from the animation.

GOES-16 vs GOES-17 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-16 vs GOES-17 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images [click to play MP4 animation]

Categories: Fire detection, GOES-17