1. Preliminary Noise Estimates for Infrared Data from the GOES-13 Imager Don Hillger NOAA/NESDIS/StAR/RAMMB (Don.Hillger@noaa.gov)Don.Hillger@noaa.gov Tim Schmit NOAA/NESDIS/StAR/ASPB (Tim.Schmit@noaa.gov)Tim.Schmit@noaa.gov July 2006

2. Table 1a: Preliminary noise estimates (in radiance units) for the GOES-13 Imager for 20 July 2006 at 1800 UTC compared to preliminary and 5th-year noise levels for GOES-12. From structure analysis on 22,500 space-view pixels. Imager Band Central Wavelength (μm) GOES-13 GOES-12 (Preliminary / 5 th -year) mW/(m 2 ·sr·cm -1 ) 23.90.00200.008 / 0.0048 36.50.0210.02 / 0.023 410.70.0890.17 / 0.31 613.30.110.32 / 0.55

3. Table 1b: Preliminary noise estimates (in radiance units) for the GOES-13 Imager for 20 July 2006 at 1800 UTC compared to recent values for GOES-12. (For comparing to Table 1a. From standard deviation calculations based on approximately 10,000 space-view pixels.) Imager Band Central Wavelength (μm) GOES-13 GOES-12 (Recent) mW/(m 2 ·sr·cm -1 ) 23.90.0018 0.0048 36.50.0200.024 410.70.095 0.31 613.30.1250.56

4. Table 2: GOES-13 Imager noise estimates (in 10-bit GVAR counts and temperature units) compared to GOES-12. From structure analysis on 22,500 space- view pixels. Imager Band Central Wavelength (μm) GOES-13 GOES-12 (Preliminary / 5 th -year) GOES-13 GOES-12 (Preliminary / 5 th -year) (GVAR count, 10-bit, 0-1023) (K @ 300 K, except band-3 @ 230 K) 23.90.451.1 / 1.10.0510.13 / 0.12 36.50.800.85 / 0.910.140.15 / 0.16 410.70.471.0 / 1.60.0530.11 / 0.18 613.30.591.8 / 3.00.0610.19 / 0.32

5. Table 3: Summary of the noise estimates (in temperature units) for GOES-8 through GOES-13 Imager bands. The specification (SPEC) noise levels are also listed. Imager Band Central Wavelength (μm) GOES- 13 GOES- 12 GOES- 11 GOES- 10 GOES- 9 GOES- 8 SPEC (K @ 300 K, except band-3 @ 230 K) 23.90.0510.130.140.170.080.161.40 36.5 / 6.70.140.150.220.090.150.271.00 410.70.0530.110.080.200.070.120.35 512.0 No band 0.200.240.140.200.35 613.30.0610.19 No band 0.32

6. Preliminary GOES-13 Imager noise improvements over GOES-12 GOES-13 imager shows a factor of up to 3 times less noise