Loading map … let cimssInteractiveMapBaseUrl = 'https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/wp-content/themes/cimss'; To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the GOES-A launch (GOES-A became GOES-1 on reaching geostationary orbit), this blog post contains one or two satellite animations (or images) for each of the 50 states. More on GOES-1 through GOES-19.There were experimental geostationary imagers (ATS and SMS) that preceded the first GOES.... Read More

10-minute Full Disk scan True Color RGB images from GOES-18 (GOES-West), GOES-17, GOES-19 (Preliminary/Non-operational) and GOES-16 (GOES-East) created using Geo2Grid (above) showed the slow drift of nearshore ice and the more rapid motion of lake effect clouds across southern Lake Michigan on 18th February 2025.The respective satellite locations over the Equator at... Read More

10-minute Full Disk scan Dust RGB images from GOES-18 (GOES-West), GOES-17, GOES-19 (Preliminary/Non-operational) and GOES-16 (GOES-East) created using Geo2Grid (above) showed vivid signatures of blowing dust (brighter shades of magenta) that originated over parts of northern Mexico and southwestern New Mexico — and was subsequently transported northeastward across southern New Mexico... Read More

The GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) have been around since 1975, although there were earlier non-operational versions operated by NASA, such as ATS, which carried UW/Madison’s Verner Suomi‘s Spin-Scan Cloudcover Camera. The ATS was followed by the SMS, which carried an early version of the VISSR.To prepare for the 50th anniversary of GOES,... Read More