The GeoXO Imager and Insights into its Improvements from Meteosat Third Generation

NOAA’s Geostationary Extended Observations mission, or GeoXO, will provide Earth observations of weather systems, air quality conditions, and coastal oceans from the early 2030s into the 2050s. The primary instrument is a visible/infrared imager known as GXI which is similar to the GOES-R series Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), but with some targeted improvements. These include two new channels aimed at atmospheric water vapor detection and improved spatial resolutions in some channels. One of the new channels is centered at 0.91 µm and is shared by EUMETSAT’s Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) Flexible Combined Imager (FCI). Imagery from FCI has allowed a first look at this solar water vapor channel’s ability to detect and track low-level water vapor. Additionally, FCI’s 3.8 µm channel is available at 1 km spatial resolution, and that matches the resolution of the 3.9 µm fire detection channel on GXI. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of GXI and its applications, and present how MTG FCI data has helped in understanding some of GXI’s key improvements over ABI, which in turn is a key step in user readiness for NOAA’s GeoXO mission.