NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite sends first images of Earth from orbit – See pics

New Delhi: American weather satellite GOES-16, the first spacecraft in NOAA’s next-generation of geostationary satellites, has beamed back its first images of Earth from the orbit.

The first high-resolution pictures, including a composite color full-disk visible image of the Western Hemisphere, were captured by the satellite's Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument on January 15, 2017.

This composite color full-disk visible image of the Western Hemisphere was captured from NOAA GOES-16 satellite at 1:07 pm EST on Jan. 15, 2017 and created using several of the 16 spectral channels available on the satellite's sophisticated Advanced Baseline Imager. Image credits: NOAA

The full-disk image,created using several of the ABI’s 16 spectral channels, offers an example the satellite’s advanced technology.

“Seeing these first images from GOES-16 is a foundational moment for the team of scientists and engineers who worked to bring the satellite to launch and are now poised to explore new weather forecasting possibilities with this data and imagery,” said Stephen Volz, Ph.D., NOAA’s assistant administrator for Satellite and Information Services, Silver Spring, Maryland.

“The incredibly sharp images are everything we hoped for based on our tests before launch. We look forward to exploiting these new images, along with our partners in the meteorology community, to make the most of this fantastic new satellite.”

Louis W Uccellini, Ph.D., director, NOAA’s National Weather Service, Silver Spring said high resolution imagery from GOES-16 will provide sharper and more detailed views of hazardous weather systems and reveal features that previous instruments might have missed.

“And the rapid-refresh of these images will allow us to monitor and predict the evolution of these systems more accurately. As a result, forecasters can issue more accurate, timely, and reliable watches and warnings, and provide better information to emergency managers and other decision makers.”

ABI is the primary instrument on GOES-16 for imaging Earth’s weather, climate and environment. It can provide a full disk image of the Earth every 15 minutes, one of the continental US every five minutes, and has the ability to target regional areas where severe weather, hurricanes, wildfires, volcanic eruptions or other high-impact environmental phenomena are occurring as often as every 30 seconds.

GOES 16, previously known as GOES-R, was launched at approximately 23:42 UTC on November 19, 2016 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, US.