1. SPSRB Information Brief
GOES-N
Timothy J. Schmit
NOAA/NESDIS/STAR
Advanced Satellite Products Branch (ASPB)
and many others
Note new GOES-N satellite
January 2006
UW-Madison

2. Subject Matter Experts
Tom Wrublewski, NOAA Liaison Office
Steve Kirkner, GOES Program Office
Mat Gunshor, CIMSS
Scott Bachmeier, CIMSS
Ed Miller, NOAA Liaison Office
Mike Weinreb, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems
Sandy Ashton, Swales
Fred Wu, NOAA/NESDIS/ORA
Tim Walsh, NOAA/NESDIS/OSD
Don Hillger, NOAA/NESDIS/ORA
Jaime Daniels, NOAA/NESDIS/ORA
Tony Schreiner, CIMSS
SXI Group
GOES-N,O,P Booklet
Etc.

3. Purpose of Brief Inform SPSRB of GOES-N status
Request guidance from SPSRB on requirement to “Prepare for and support new GOES satellites check-outs and activations”

4. Background - GOES-N launch date is “no earlier than” Feb 7th, 2006
- GOES-N science post-launch check-out is upcoming
- Details (schedule) still vague.
- These tests are an essential step for the system to ultimately become operational.
- better calibration
- longer imager BlackBody looks
- colder detectors
- no spring and fall outages due to eclipse
- reduced Keep Out Zone outages
- better navigation (earth sensor -> star tracker)
- GOES-N VISITview (beta version) developed
VISITview is a distance learning tool.
GOES-N/P
GOES-8/12

5. GOES-N Spacecraft
Star Trackers

6. GOES-8/12
GOES-N/O/P will have similar instruments to GOES-8-12, but will be on a different spacecraft bus. The new bus will allow improvements both to the navigation and registration, as well as the radiometrics.
GOES-N/P
Position of the boom
allows for colder detectors and hence less instrument noise

7. Limitations of Current GOES Imagers
Regional/Hemispheric scan conflicts
Low spatial resolution
Missing spectral bands
Eclipse and related outages
GOES-N/O/P will supply data through the eclipse periods.The spacecraft batteries are specified to be large enough to run through eclipse. Shields have been added to the secondary mirror spiders. Outages due to Keep Out Zones (KOZ) will be minimized.
GOES-N/O/P addresses one of the major imager limitations.
GOES-R (2012+) addresses the first 3 limitations, but GOES-N addresses the data outage issues!

8. GOES-N Post-Launch (Science) Test
Milestones/Goals:
Acquire and Save GOES-N PLT radiance data
Check-out GOES-N radiance quality (noise, etc.)
Produce and validate GOES-N products (Generation of temperature and moisture retrievals, cloud top info, DPI, Winds, etc. )
NOAA NESDIS Tech Memo
Test instruments during eclipse periods
Verify improved navigation and registration
Don Hillger, RAMMT will coordinate the schedules, etc during the science test. ASPT/CIMSS will produce and verify several products. Other groups (FPDT, etc) will also be involved.

9. Hillger, D. W. , T. J. Schmit, and J. M
Hillger, D. W., T. J. Schmit, and J. M. Daniels, 2003: Imager and sounder radiance and product validations for the GOES-12 science test, NOAA Technical Report 115, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC.

10. Radiance example from GOES-12 PLT
GOES-12 Sounder noise values (in radiance units) compared to those from GOES-8. The specification noise values for the GOES Sounder bands are also included for comparison purposes.

11. Derived Product example from GOES-12 PLT
GOES-8 (left) and GOES-12 (right) retrieved total precipitable water (TPW) from the Sounder displayed as an image. The data are from 19 UTC on 20 October 2001.

12. (~3 hours of data outage)
Outages due to Eclipse
and the Keep-Out-Zone
No data!
GOES-8
(~3 hours of data outage)
Sample of a 3 hour outage. Note this isn’t over the GOES-East eclipse time.
GOES-N+
(<<1 hour of data outage)

13. The Onset Of Hurricane Ivan
16 September 2004
0100 UTC
0200 UTC
0300 UTC
0400 UTC
0500 UTC
0600 UTC
0700 UTC
0800 UTC
0900 UTC
GOES-10 & -12 Sounder Cloud Top Pressure Coverage
Outage
during
landfall
From Tony S. of CIMSS. Using GOES-West does NOT fill in the gap due to the outages.

14. Improved radiometrics on GOES-N+
The GOES-N+ instruments will be less noisy. 
Lower (colder) patch (detector) temperature is the main driver.
Other modifications have been made to improve the noise performance on both instruments.
From an from Ed Miller.

15. Improved GOES-N (Sounder) noise
Compared to GOES-12
longwave
shortwave

16. Improved calibration on GOES-N+
Reduction in striping to be achieved through increasing the Imager's scan-mirror's dwell time on the blackbody from 0.2 sec to 2 sec. 
The more accurate blackbody characterization improves the calibration of the infrared detectors.
From an from Mike W.

17. Improved calibration on GOES-N+
Analysis shows that the blackbody noise will be reduced by about 13% in Imager channels 3-5, which should improve the precision of their calibration by approximately that amount and also reduce the striping by an unknown amount (since there are a lot of other factors besides uncorrelated blackbody errors that cause the striping).
This improvement begins with GOES-N  
From an from Mike W.

18. Improved Navigation On GOES- N+ 85 urad (~3 km) 168 urad = 6 km•
The GOES -
N navigation will be improved •
New spacecraft bus •
Use of star trackers •
GOES -
N performance will be verified on -
orbit
GOES -
I/M Performance & GOES -
N Expected Performance
85 urad
(~3 km)
168 urad
= 6 km
Nighttime
(IR)
53 urad
(<2 km)
112 urad
= 4 km
Daytime
(Visible)
GOES - N+
I/M
Navigation
at Nadir
Thanks to Sandy Ashton, Swales.

19. GOES-N Imager and Sounder Spectral Response Functions
Both individual and band averages were given to Paul van Delst of CIMSS to include in the OPTRAN model for NCEP.
Note the imager band selection is similar to GOES-12.

20. GOES-N Sounder Weighting Functions
Pressure
Same general bands as the GOES-12 sounder. These plots were made at CIMSS.

21. GOES-12 Sounder Weighting Functions
Pressure
Same general bands as the GOES-12 sounder. These plots were made at CIMSS.

22. Reduced KOZ The values have not yet been defined for GOES-N operations
10 3
Sun
From HES PORD
Earth
The values have not yet been defined for GOES-N operations

23. GVAR http://www.oso.noaa.gov/goes/goes-calibration/change-channels.htm
Beginning with GOES-O, the imagers will have an additional infrared detector. In block 0, the amount of space for the drift correction coefficients will need to be increased by approximately 15% to accommodate the data for the 8th detector. To make room in block 0, the factory coefficients will be removed and will be sent instead in a new type of block 11.
The new "Imager Factory Coefficients" block 11 will be introduced early with the GOES-12 satellite. This block 11 will be identified by the value "20" in words 5 and 6 ("Product ID") of the GVAR block header. However, the changes to block 0, including the removal of the Imager factory data and the addition of drift correction data for the eighth IR detector, will not become effective until GOES-O.
The changes to GVAR outlined above will not be retroactive. Data from GOES-8 through GOES-11 will always be transmitted to users with the current version of GVAR. The revisions to GVAR described above will become effective with the GOES-12 satellite.

25. GOES-N Check-out Web page

26. Users NWS (forecasters and modelers)
Any other users of GOES radiances or products
Internet/Public

27. Requirements
Prepare for and support new GOES satellites check-outs and activations

28. Funding
G-PSDI in FY05 and FY06 (pending)

29. Next Steps Launch GOES-N !!!
3 posters at the upcoming satellite conference
Hillger et al (Overall)
Daniels et al (Imager)
Schmit et al (Sounder)

30. Additional Slides

31. Example Infrared Image With Striping

32. GOES-12 Imager and Sounder spectral response functions.
Both individual and band averages were given to Paul van Delst of CIMSS to include in the OPTRAN model for NCEP.
Note the imager band selection is similar to GOES-12.

33. GOES-N Imager Weighting Functions
Pressure
Same general bands as the GOES-12 imager. These plots were made at CIMSS.
CIMSS

34. GOES-12 Imager Weighting Functions
Pressure
Same general bands as the GOES-12 imager. These plots were made at CIMSS.
CIMSS

35. Other Changes...
• A data product improvement has been provided with the development of the digital Low Rate Image Information Transmission (LRIT) system for distribution of data products that were distributed in an analog WEFAX format in the previous generation.
• The Data Collection System (DCS) has been enhanced.
• A dedicated transponder is being provided to support the Emergency Manager’s Weather Information Network (EMWIN) data product service.
• There will be no “boom snap” navigation problems on the GOES-N,O,P satellites.

36. Other Changes...
• A new Solar X-Ray Imager (SXI) has been developed to permit the observation and collection of solar data products.
• The Space Environment Monitoring (SEM) subsystem has been enhanced. The EPS sensors have been expanded to provide coverage over an extended energy range and with improved directional accuracy.
• The Satellite design life time has been lengthened from 7 to 10 years.
• An optional operational “yaw flip” capability has been developed to permit optimum performance of the Imager and Sounder radiation coolers.