To keep pace with the growing need for GOES data and products, NOAA is evolving its geostationary sensor capabilities. The Advanced Imager (AI) will be the next generation geostationary imager. This imager will have a minimum of eight spectral bands and a maximum of twelve spectral bands. The minimum eight bands would be similar to the five bands on the current GOES-8 -11 imagers (0.64, 3.9, 6.15, 11.2, and 12.3 µm), plus a snow/cloud-discriminating 1.6 µm band, a mid-tropospheric 7.0 µm water vapor band, and a 13.3 µm band useful for determining cloud heights.

Four additional bands have been proposed, with the goal of meeting NWS requirements and enhancing opportunities for weather and climate research and applications. Two of the proposed bands are centered in infrared windows at 8.5 µm and 10.35 µm. The 8.5 µm band, in conjunction with the 11.2 µm band, will enable detection of volcanic dust cloud containing sulfuric acid aerosols. In addition, the 8.5 µm band can be combined with the 11.2 and 12.3 µm channels to derive cloud phase. The 10.35 µm band will help to derive low-level moisture, cloud particle size and surface properties. Another visible band at 0.86 µm is suggested to help with the detection of aerosols and vegetation; this band may also enable monitoring of localized vegetation stress and fire danger. Finally, a near-infrared channel at 1.38 µm is proposed to detect very thin cirrus not detected by other bands. Taken as a whole, the additional bands are intended to improve moisture, volcanic and conventional cloud, aerosol, and surface sensing capabilities.

Simulated GOES Advanced Imager examples will be compared to imagery from the current GOES imagers for a wide range of meteorological phenomena. These phenomena will include wave clouds, severe convection, hurricanes, volcanoes, fires, lake ice, cloud phase and fog. Simulated imagery will be based on high spatial resolution MoDerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data.