The Pantheon of GOES

By Tim Schmit • 5 January 2023

From GOES-A (1) in 1975, to GOES-T (18) launched in 2022! On January 4, 2023 GOES-18 is operational as GOES-West, here’s a look-back at all the GOES. Note that the GOES-R series imagers support the generation of a true color image, given they have the blue (or 0.47 micrometer) band. Continuity is critical for operational satellites and this shows the case, as well as these GOES satellite timeline from this CIMSS Satellite Blog post. A glimpse into a bit of what the GOES ABI observed in 2022.

The GOES-18 thumbnail is when the satellite was at its initial check-out location.

A timeline of the GOES, from GOES-1 to GOES-U. Figure credit: GOES-R Program Office. *(Click to show larger image.)*

“High Noon” from a ring of geostationary imagers. Data from January 4, 2023. (Click to show larger image.)

More on the “high noon” geostationary imager composite from UW/SSEC, which now includes the GOES-18 ABI.

All the NOAA GOES data for the thumbnails have been accessed via the University of Wisconsin – Madison SSEC Satellite Data Services. The Full Disk images were made using McIDAS-X software, and combined with a series of ImageMagik commands.

Categories: General interpretation, GOES-1, GOES-10, GOES-11, GOES-12, GOES-13, GOES-14, GOES-15, GOES-16, GOES-17, GOES-18, GOES-2, GOES-3, GOES-4, GOES-5, GOES-6, GOES-7, GOES-8, GOES-9, GOES-R