GOES-14 Sounder Data
The launch and post-launch checkout of GOES-14 allows a comparison of the sounder instruments on GOES-14 (see the image above) and GOES-12, the operational GOES-East (the image below). The Sounder is used to detect emitted radiation at 19 different wavelengths, in contrast to the 5 wavelengths sensed by the Imager. There is better spectral resolution on the Sounder, but spatial resolution at the sub-satellite point is limited to 8-km field-of-view separated by 10 km. At mid-latitudes, such as over the United States, resolution is about 10 km.
The GOES-14 spacecraft has a different configuration than the GOES-12 spacecraft, and as a result, the Sounder detectors are colder on GOES-14. This allows for cleaner imagery. In particular, the Sounder bands 1, 2, 12 and 15 show much less noise in GOES-14 imagery compared to GOES-12. More information on the GOES-14 instruments can be found here.