1. NOAA’s Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) Overview
Tom Schott
NESDIS/OSD Satellite Product Manager
U.S. Department of Commerce - NOAA
NOAA Satellite Conference
April 8-12, 2013

2. Topics Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES)
Initial Joint Polar-orbiting System (IJPS)

3. POES Mission
To provided uninterrupted flow of global environmental information in support of operational requirements for:
Global Soundings
Global Imagery
Global and Regional Surface & Hydrological Obs
Direct Readout, Data Collection, Search and Rescue
Space Environment and Ozone Observations
To establish long-term continuous data sets for climate monitoring and change predictions
Uninterrupted data requires two satellites for continuous coverage placed in orbits selected to optimize support for both weather services and climate requirements.

4. Mid-morning MetOp Orbit
10am
Noon
2pm
12 Z Orbit Coverage
0900Z –1500Z
Afternoon POES Orbit
Mid-morning MetOp Orbit

5. Mid-morning MetOp Orbits
10pm
Midnight
2am
00 Z Orbit Coverage
2100Z – 0300Z
Afternoon POES Orbits
Mid-morning MetOp Orbits

6. POES CORE MISSION REQUIREMENTS & SENSORS Science Observations
Instrument
POES
Science Observations
Imagery
Vis/IR Imager
AVHRR
Sea Surface Temp.
Vegetation
Snow/Ice Cover
Aerosols
Radiation Budget
Radiances
IR and Microwave sounders
HIRS
Temp. Profiles
AMSU-A
Hum. Profiles
MHS
Hydrology Products
Total Ozone and Profiles
UV Backscatter Sensor
SBUV
Space Weather
Space Environment Monitor
SEM
Services
Direct Readout
HRPT
Data Collection
A-DCS
Search & Rescue
SARR/SARP

7. Major Customers Numerical Weather Prediction Centers
NWS National Centers for Environmental Prediction
National Weather Service Field Offices
NOAA Ocean Service and NOAA Marine Fisheries
Hazard community (Volcanic Ash Centers, US Forest Service)
Other U.S. Federal Agencies
International community
Global climate community
Direct Readout Users
High-resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT) Users
Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) Users
Search and Rescue
Data Collection System

8. International Partners
European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT)
MetOp Satellites
Canada – Department of National Defense (DND)
Search and Rescue Repeater (SARR)
France – Center National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
Search and Rescue Processor (SARP)
Data Collection (DCS & A-DCS)

9. POES Status (Apr 2, 2013) http://www.oso.noaa.gov/poesstatus/index.asp
Operational G
Spacecraft Issue but no User Impact
S/C
Operational with Limitation Y
Non-Operational R
Not Applicable
N/A
Spacecraft Subsystems
METOP-A
NOAA-19
NOAA-18
NOAA-17
NOAA-16
NOAA-15
Launch Date
Oct 2006
Feb 2009
May 2005
Jun 2002
Sep 2000
May 1998
Operational Date
May 2007
Jun 2009
Aug 2005
Oct 2002
Mar 2001
Dec 1998
Mission Data Category
Primary (AM)
Primary (PM)
Secondary (PM)
Secondary (AM)
Payload Instruments
AVHRR G
R (11)
Y(13)
Y(20)
HIRS
Y (3)
Y (28)
Y(14)
R (6)
AMSU-A1
Y(26)
R (4)
Y(15)
Y(21)
AMSU-A2
AMSU-B
N/A
Y (9)
R (12)
MHS
Y (8)
SEM
SBUV
S/C (9)
R (29)
Y(16)
Telemetry, Command & Control
ADACS
Y (7)
Y (27)
Y(17)
Y(10)
EPS
Y(25)
Thermal Control
Y(22)
Communications
Y (1)
S/C (5)
Y(30)
Y(23)
APT/LRPT
R (2)
R(18)
DCS
ADCS
SAR
Y(19)
Y(24)

10. NOAA-17 Decommissioning
After nearly 11 years of service NOAA-17 will be decommissioned on April 10, 2013
Decision based on evaluation of NOAA-17’s health, ability to provide meaningful data to the scientific and weather community, and resource demands in NESDIS/OSPO 
Since launch, the electrical power subsystem has degraded extensively, and AVHRR and AMSU-A1 instruments are no longer functional
Metop-A and B will replace NOAA-17’s data coverage
NOAA-17 (NOAA-M) was launched on June 24, 2002

11. Initial Joint Polar-orbiting System (IJPS)
IJPS consists of two independent, but fully coordinated, polar satellite systems to provide for the continuous and timely collection and exchange of environmental data from space.
Afternoon orbit provided by NOAA
NOAA-18 launched May 2005
NOAA-19 launched Feb 2009
Mid morning orbit provided
by EUMETSAT
MetOp A launched Oct 2006
MetOp B launched Sep 2012
MetOp C planning launch date 2017
IJPS era began

12. IJPS Shared Partnering
MetOp A, B & C
NOAA 18 & 19
0930 Orbit - Descending Node
Direct broadcast with
A-HRPT
Contingency Support
Data Exchange
Instruments
NOAA Provided
AVHRR/3
HIRS/4 (not on MetOp C)
AMSU-A
SEM
SARSAT
EUMETSAT Provided
MHS
Argos (Data Collection Sys)
EUMETSAT Unique
IASI
ASCAT
GOME-2
GRAS
1400 Orbit -Ascending Node
Direct broadcast with existing HRPT and analog APT links
Contingency Support
Data Exchange
Instruments
NOAA Provided
AVHRR/3
HIRS/4
AMSU-A
SEM
SARSAT
EUMETSAT Provided
MHS
Argos (Data Collection Sys)
NOAA Unique
SBUV/2

13. EUMETSAT MetOp-B Status
Launched on September 17, 2012 (50 minutes behind MetOp-A)
All instruments have passed cal/val and level 1b data are available through direct readout
NESDIS/OSPO/SPSD developing level 2 products from NOAA supplied instruments
Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MIRS) Products 
April 8, 2013 at 1430 UTC 
Advanced TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (ATOVS) Products
April 11, 2013 at 1430 UTC (rescheduled from April 1, 2013)
Scheduled for operations ~April 24, 2013
MetOp-B will be new primary AM satellite
Metop-B Instruments & Products:
ASCAT – Winds
IASI, AMSU-A, HIRS/4 – Soundings
AVHRR – Fires
GOME-2 – Ozone
MHS – Cyclones
Searth & Rescue
SEM – Space Obs

14. Initial Joint Polar-orbiting System (IJPS)
Svalbard, Norway
Fairbanks, AK
Darmstadt,Germany
Polar
Orbits
Suitland, MD and Camp Springs, MD
NOAA
Wallops Is, VA
2:00 P.M.
Sun-Synchronous
Incl. 98.7/98.9
Period 101 min.
Apogee 530/518 miles
Scan width 2700 km
Circle Earth 14 times
per day
9:30 A.M.
MetOp
McMurdo

15. Low Data Rate Direct Readout Users
NOAA Automatic Picture Transmission (APT)
Analog signal
2 imagery channels at 4km
Frequency changed for NOAA-18 & reduce interference
137.1 and MHz
NOAA 15 still active
Composite image courtesy of New Beith Weather Station

16. High Data Rate Direct Readout Users
NOAA High-resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT)
Realtime data at 667kbs rate
NOAA-18/19 active
MetOp Advanced High-resolution Picture Transmission (A-HRPT)
Realtime data at 3.5mbs rate
Flown on MetOp morning orbits
All instrument data including European sensors (IASI, ASCAT, etc.)
Can be encrypted

17. Satellite Operations Contact Information
24/7 Help Desk
User Services
Data Access
Webmaster
Web
See new GOES web page and web page for mobile devices:
- The new GOES page -> 
- Animated GIF imagery for mobile devices -> 

18. Summary
NOAA continues to partner with EUMETSAT in the mid-morning polar orbit
NOAA-19 is the last of the POES satellites for the afternoon polar orbit
POES satellites have served the nation since the early 1960s
Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) ensures afternoon polar orbit capabilities continue