1. Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites - CGMS NOAA Report on the Status and Future Plans for GEONETCast Americas Presented to CGMS-44 Working Group WGIV, agenda item 6 CGMS-43-NOAA-WP-15

2. Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites - CGMS GNC-A is a regional broadcast serving much of North America, the Caribbean Basin, Central and South America NOAA working closely with GNC-A Coordination Group and regional partners to support and address: GEO-GEOSS Societal Benefit Areas GEO Projects and Initiatives Requirements for WMO RA III/IV Transition to new NOAA satellites Slide: 2 GEONETCast Americas (GNC-A) Broadcast CGMS-43-NOAA-WP-15

3. Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites - CGMS GNC-A is a 3 Megabits per Second, C-Band, DVB-S commercial satellite broadcast on Intelsat-21 User provided receive systems utilize primarily commercially available off-the-shelf hardware Antenna system utilizes either a 1.8 meter or 2.4 meter antenna depending on location in relation to the satellite Designed to use COTS hardware components Kencast Professional Client No recurring costs required Slide: 3 GEONETCast Americas Characteristics CGMS-43-NOAA-WP-15

4. Approximately 130 GEONETCast users in the Americas 99 of them are EUMETCast stations 31 are installed and operational GNC-A stations 3 more are being installed or repaired 38 are planned or funded Possible conversion of some of the 14 previous NWS International Satellite Communication System (ISCS) C- Band ground stations to GNC-A receive stations and EUMETCast Americas stations prior or after termination of the broadcast in December 2016 GEONETCast Americas (GNC-A) Users CGMS-43-NOAA-WP-15

5. Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites - CGMS GNC-A Providers donate the GNC-A content 5 U.S. and 6 international organizations Large expansion of the NOAA/NWS offering: International Services and Communication Systems (ISCS) backup dissemination utilizing GNC-A Replicate GTS Internet File Service (GIFS) content and directory structure on GNC-A Content includes watches, warnings, forecasts, tropical storm info, aviation model fields, graphics, etc. Slide: 5 GEONETCast Americas (GNC-A) Providers CGMS-43-NOAA-WP-15

6. Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites - CGMS GEONETCast Americas supported the GEO XII Plenary and Ministerial Meetings in Mexico City in Nov. 2015 GEONETCast exhibit booth organized by NOAA and EUMETSAT; well received and supported many visitors Coincident with the GEO-12 Plenary, there were AmeriGEOSS side meetings and a town hall meeting. GNC-A was accepted as an AmeriGEOSS Foundational Group Activity along with Capacity Building. Slide: 6 GEONETCast Americas Capacity Building CGMS-43-NOAA-WP-15

7. Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites - CGMS On May l, 2016, a GEONETCast and GOES-R training session was held in Mexico City Instruction on GNC-A to new and prospective users GOES-R training to the attendees but specifically to the attendees from the Meteorological Service From June 7-10, 2016, a four day AmeriGEOSS Week training and train-the-trainer event is being held at the National University of Colombia. The workshop will include: GNC-A receive stations, product use and future plans GOES-R satellite and sensor information ABI sensor imagery bands and their use Slide: 7 GEONETCast Americas Capacity Building CGMS-43-NOAA-WP-15

8. Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites - CGMS Plans are being formulated for a training session at the WMO Region III/IV Satellite Date Requirements group meeting in September 2016 in Curacao The User Sub-Committee and INPE are continuing a project to create tutorials for visualizing and utilizing all of the GNC-A products and product formats http://geonetcastamericas.noaa.gov/other-publications.html. Slide: 8 GEONETCast Americas Capacity Building CGMS-43-NOAA-WP-15

9. Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites - CGMS Investigating alternative dissemination method for the Charter GNC-A is uniquely situated to support the delivery of disaster response information To areas affected by natural disasters in certain situations where there is a GNC-A Station in the affected country Where internet infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed GNC-A has begun an effort to increase our visibility with the Charter and to encourage increased use of GNC-A where there is a presence in the HydroMet or Disaster Response agency Slide: 9 GEONETCast Americas & Disaster Charter CGMS-43-NOAA-WP-15

10. Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites - CGMS NOAA is working to expand the broadcast bandwidth of GNC-A to provide data and products from upcoming satellite missions and to support the Hydro-Met Service in the region through the WMO Region III/IV 1 megabit per second added in May 2016 Additional bandwidth could be added as it becomes available, making more products accessible via broadcast Additional products will be added beginning Fall of 2016 Decisions on GOES-R bands, format, spatial resolution and temporal resolution forthcoming Slide: 10 GEONETCast Americas Bandwidth Expansion CGMS-43-NOAA-WP-15