20030327: GOES 12 to be activated as GOES E

• To: nws-changes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
• Subject: 20030327: GOES 12 to be activated as GOES E
• From: Linda Miller <lmiller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 09:55:03 -0700

The message included below was sent earlier on our communications
lines.  It is also posted to the NWS Data Management Change Notices web
page at the following URL.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/datamgmt/notices.shtml

2003/04/01 1815 UTC
DM 03-03.30 GOES-12 TO BE ACTIVATED AS GOES EAST

NOXX10 KWBC 271615
DATA MGT MESSAGE 03-03.03


TO  AWIPS/NOAAPORT USERS... FAMILY OF SERVICES /FOS/ SUBSCRIBERS...
      EMERGENCY MANAGERS WEATHER INFORMATION NETWORK /EMWIN/
      NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE /NWS/ CUSTOMERS... WAFS USERS...
      GTS USERS... NWS FAX CHART USERS

FROM  RTH WASHINGTON DATA MANAGEMENT

ON TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2003, AT APPROXIMATELY 1815 UTC, GOES-12 (FORMERLY
REFERRED TO AS GOES-M) REPLACES GOES-8 AS THE OPERATIONAL GOES EAST
SATELLITE.  BEGINNING AT THAT DATE/TIME, GOES EAST IMAGERY, SOUNDINGS,
AND HIGH DENSITY WINDS ON NOAAPORT/SBN WILL BE BASED ON GOES-12.
GOES-8, WHICH HAS BEEN PROVIDING OPERATIONAL PRODUCTS SINCE 1994, WILL
BE REMOVED FROM ITS GOES EAST STATION AND RETIRED.

ONCE ACTIVATED AS GOES EAST, GOES-12 WILL OPERATE ACCORDING TO THE GOES
EAST SCHEDULES AND SCANNING STRATEGIES.  THAT IS, GOES-12 WILL OPERATE
AS GOES-8 PRESENTLY DOES.

WHEN GOES-12 BECOMES OPERATIONAL, THE SUITE OF NOAAPORT/SBN GOES IMAGERY
WILL CHANGE DUE TO TWO FACTORS: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE GOES-8 AND
GOES-12 IMAGER INSTRUMENTS, AND THE DISCONTINUATION OF CERTAIN
TWO-SATELLITE COMPOSITE SECTORS.  THESE FACTORS ARE DESCRIBED BELOW.

THE MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE GOES-8 AND GOES-12 IMAGER INSTRUMENTS
ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. THE RESOLUTION OF THE GOES-12 WATER VAPOR CHANNEL (I.E., CHANNEL 3)
IS 4 KM, AS OPPOSED TO 8 KM ON THE PRE-GOES-12 SATELLITES.

2. THE CENTRAL WAVELENGTH OF THE GOES-12 WATER VAPOR CHANNEL IS 6.5 µM
AS OPPOSED TO 6.7 µM ON EARLIER SATELLITES.  THE SPECTRAL RESPONSE OF
THE GOES-12 WATER VAPOR CHANNEL IS ALSO WIDER THAN THOSE OF GOES 8-11.

3. CHANNEL 5 (THE 4 KM RESOLUTION 12µM CHANNEL ON PRE-GOES-12
SATELLITES) IS REPLACED ON GOES-12 BY CHANNEL 6 (A NEW 8 KM RESOLUTION
CHANNEL CENTERED AT 13.3µM).

THE IMAGER DIFFERENCES ARE DESCRIBED IN MORE DETAIL ON THE FOLLOWING WEB
SITE:

http://www.oso.noaa.gov/goes/goes-calibration/change-channels.htm

THE NEW IMAGER ON GOES-12 WILL BE MOST EVIDENT IN PRODUCTS PROVIDED ON
THE GOES EAST NOAAPORT/SBN CHANNEL.  TWO-GOES-SATELLITE COMPOSITE
IMAGERY ON THE GOES WEST NOAAPORT/SBN CHANNEL WILL ALSO BE AFFECTED
SINCE THAT IMAGERY IS BASED, IN PART, ON THE GOES EAST IMAGER.
FURTHERMORE, DURING PERIODS OF GOES WEST ECLIPSE, GOES EAST SENSOR DATA
IS USED TO PRODUCE THE GOES WEST SECTORS THAT ARE DISSEMINATED VIA THE
GOES WEST CHANNEL.  CONSEQUENTLY, DURING THESE ECLIPSE PERIODS, GOES-12
IMAGERY WILL BE PROVIDED ON THE GOES WEST NOAAPORT CHANNEL,
CORRESPONDING TO THE IMAGER INSTRUMENT CHANNELS AVAILABLE ON GOES WEST.

AROUND THE TIME OF GOES-12 ACTIVATION, FOUR GOES EAST/WEST COMPOSITE
PRODUCTS WILL BE DISCONTINUED ON BOTH THE GOES EAST AND GOES WEST
CHANNELS OF NOAAPORT/SBN.  THE DISCONTINUED PRODUCTS ARE THE
SUPERNATIONAL AND NORTHERN HEMISPHERE COMPOSITES OF 3.9 µM AND 12 µM
IMAGERY.  THE WMO HEADERS CORRESPONDING TO THESE PRODUCTS ARE:

  1. TIGN03 KNES - SUPERNATIONAL 12 µM SECTORS
  2. TIGN04 KNES - SUPERNATIONAL 3.9 µM SECTORS
  3. TIGF03 KNES - NORTHERN HEMISPHERE COMPOSITE 12 µM SECTORS
  4. TIGF04 KNES - NORTHERN HEMISPHERE COMPOSITE 3.9 µM SECTORS


GOES-12 IS IN THE PROCESS OF BEING REPOSITIONED TO THE GOES EAST STATION
(NOMINAL LONGITUDE 75W).   AT THE TIME OF GOES-12 ACTIVATION (ON APRIL
1) NOAA/NESDIS ESTIMATES THAT GOES-12 WILL BE NEAR 81W LONGITUDE.
BECAUSE THIS POSITION IS APPROXIMATELY 6 DEGREES OF LONGITUDE WEST OF
THE GOES EAST STATION, SOME GOES-12 IMAGERY PROVIDED VIA NOAAPORT/SBN
MIGHT INITIALLY LACK COMPLETE SENSOR COVERAGE IN THE FAR EASTERN
PORTIONS OF THE SECTORS.  COVERAGE IS EXPECTED TO IMPROVE AS GOES-12
APPROACHES ITS GOES EAST STATION, AND ALL SECTORS ARE EXPECTED TO HAVE
COMPLETE SENSOR DATA COVERAGE BY THE TIME GOES-12 REACHES THE GOES EAST
STATION (ON ABOUT APRIL 24, 2003).

ALTHOUGH THE GOES-8 AND GOES-12 SPACECRAFTS ARE BEING REPOSITIONED AS A
PART OF THIS TRANSITION, THE NOAAPORT COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE (SES
AMC-4) REMAINS ON STATION.  CONSEQUENTLY, NOAAPORT RECEIVE ANTENNAS WILL
REQUIRE NO REPOINTING AS A RESULT OF THE GOES-12 ACTIVATION.

A DESCRIPTION OF THE GOES EAST IMAGERY SECTORS AND DATA FORMATS APPEARS
IN THE ?ICD FOR AWIPS-NESDIS,? AVAILABLE FROM THE FOLLOWING SITE:

http://205.156.54.206/noaaport/html/refs.shtml

THIS ICD WAS UPDATED ON JUNE 12, 2002 TO INCLUDE INFORMATION ON THE
GOES-12 SECTORS.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, CONTACT BRIAN GOCKLE AT
BRIAN.GOCKLE@xxxxxxxx.


THIS INFORMATION IS ALSO POSTED ON THE NWS DATA MANAGEMENT CHANGE
NOTICES WEB PAGE. THE URL IS LISTED BELOW.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/datamgmt/index.html

DATA MANAGEMENT
TELECOMMUNICATION OPERATIONS CENTER
RTH WASHINGTON SENDS