The satellite’s 1st images since its launch a few months ago.
GOES-16 provides 4 times the image resolution – 4 times more detail
– than earlier GOES satellites. Weather forecasters are excited!
GOES-16 captured this view of the
moon as it looked across the surface of the Earth on January 15,
2017. Like earlier GOES satellites, GOES-16 will use the moon
for
calibration. Image via
NOAA/NASA.
NOAA sounded thrilled on January 23,
2017 about the release of the first images from orbit by the GOES-16
satellite. This new satellite lifted off from Cape Canaveral on
November 19, 2016, and,
according to NOAA:
… scientists, meteorologists and ordinary weather enthusiasts
have anxiously waited for the first photos from NOAA’s newest
weather satellite, GOES-16, formerly GOES-R.
The release of the first images today is the latest step in a
new age of weather satellites. It will be like high-definition
from the heavens.
Stephen Volz Ph.D. director of NOAA’s
Satellite and Information Service said:
This is such an exciting day for NOAA! One of our GOES-16
scientists compared this to seeing a newborn baby’s first
pictures — it’s that exciting for us. These images come from the
most sophisticated technology ever flown in space to predict
severe weather on Earth. The fantastically rich images provide
us with our first glimpse of the impact GOES-16 will have on
developing life-saving forecasts.
Read more from NOAA about GOES-16’s first image release.
View larger. | This GOES image shows the significant storm
system that crossed North America that caused freezing and ice
that resulted in dangerous conditions across the United States
on January 15, 2017, resulting in loss of life. GOES-16
scientists say the satellite will offer 3x more spectral
channels with 4x greater resolution, 5x faster than ever before,
leading to more accurate weather forecasting. Image via
GOES Image Gallery.
View larger. | This 16-panel image shows the continental
United States in the 2 visible, 4 near-infrared and 10 infrared
channels on GOES-16’s Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI). These
channels help forecasters distinguish between differences in the
atmosphere, for example, between clouds, water vapor, smoke, ice
and volcanic ash. Image via
NOAA/NASA.
View larger. | The GOES-16 Advanced Baseline Imager also
acquired the images to make this composite color image of Earth.
It’s from 1:07 p.m. EDT on January 15, 2017 and was created
using several of the instrument’s 16 spectral channels . The
image shows North and South America and the surrounding oceans.
GOES-16 observes Earth from an equatorial view approximately
22,300 miles high (35,888 km high), which is why, NOAA said,
it’s able to create “full disk images like these, extending from
the coast of West Africa, to Guam, and everything in between.”
Image via
GOES Image Gallery.
Bottom line: On January 23, 2017 NOAA
released the first images from its GOES-16 weather forecasting
satellite.
Via NOAA