With the help of NASA, private industry and others, NOAA’s GOES-2 (as GOES-B) was launched on June 16, 1977. Similar to SMS-1/2 and GOES-1/3, there were 2 spectral bands: one visible and one longwave infrared. A still image with a map overlay is also available to provide geo-referencing for the images... Read More

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-17 (GOES-West) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) and Cloud Top Temperature derived product images (above) showed that the Calf Canyon Fire/Hermits Peak Fire in northeastern New Mexico produced a pair of pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds on 14 June 2022. Extreme fire behavior was aided by surface wind gusts as high as 60 mph and very... Read More

* GOES-18 images shown in this blog post are preliminary and non-operational *Following its initial Post-Launch Test (PLT) period at 89.5°W longitude, GOES-18 reached a near-operational PLT position over the Pacific Ocean at 136.8°W longitude — and began transmitting images again at 0120 UTC on 07 June 2022. Although the first... Read More

IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) Probability estimates the likelihood that IFR conditions are occurring by fusing GOES-17 satellite data with model output. The satellite-derived products give output of low IFR, (LIFR), IFR, and Marginal Visual Flight Rules (MVFR). In aviation, the difference between these classifications is generally:Low Instrument Flight Rules (LIFR): Ceilings are less than 500 feet above ground... Read More