NOAA SEEKS FEEDBACK FROM GOES SATELLITE DATA USERS

Feb. 17, 2004 — NOAA will hold a conference for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) data users May 10-13 in Broomfield, Colo. The meeting will provide users with the status of the future GOES-R satellite constellation instruments and operations.

The new GOES, planned for launch in 2012, will scan the Earth nearly five times faster than the current system. The satellites will provide the user community—television meteorologists, private weather companies, the aviation and agriculture communities, and national and international government agencies—with about 50 times the amount of data currently provided.

The conference will provide an opportunity for users to give feedback to NOAA so that it can identify potential applications for data and products from GOES-R. The conference is designed to provide two-way communication between the NOAA Satellites and Information Service and the GOES user community; inform GOES data users of plans for the next generation of satellites; provide information on potential applications; determine user needs for new products; and assess potential user and societal benefits of GOES capabilities.

GOES are a mainstay of weather forecasting and environmental monitoring in the United States. Their images of the clouds are seen daily on television weather forecasts.

The third generation of GOES will provide critical atmospheric, oceanic, climatic, solar and space data. The satellite will house an advanced imager, hyperspectral sounder, coastal water sensor, lightning mapper, solar imager and space environment monitor.

“Advanced planning is taking place for the development of the future GOES,” said Gregory W. Withee, assistant administrator for the NOAA Satellites and Information Service. “Now is the time for the user community to assist NOAA in fine-tuning the details of GOES requirements, products, communications and distribution of data.”

The conference will consist of speaker presentations, poster sessions and facilitated breakout sessions. The conference is sponsored by NOAA, in cooperation with NASA, the American Meteorological Society, the National Weather Association, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Marine Technology Society and the World Meteorological Organization.

Abstracts are invited for poster papers focusing on GOES-R potential applications, GOES-R as part of the Global Observing System and the smooth transition to GOES-R. The deadline for abstracts is Feb. 27, 2004.

The NOAA Satellites and Information Service is the nation’s primary source of space-based meteorological and climate data. It operates the nation's environmental satellites, which are used for weather forecasting, climate monitoring and other environmental applications, such as fire detection, ozone monitoring and sea surface temperature measurements.

The agency also operates three data centers, which house global data bases in climatology, paleoclimatology, oceanography, solid earth geophysics, marine geology and geophysics, and solar-terrestrial physics.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation’s coastal and marine resources. NOAA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Relevant Web Sites
NOAA GOES-R User Conference

NOAA Satellites and Information Service

NOAA Satellites Page

Media Contact:
John Leslie, NOAA Satellites and Information Service, (301) 457-5005