From LEO to GEO—A Joyful Career with Weather Satellites (Invited Presentation)

I will summarize my career with weather satellites.   DMSP in the 1980’s and early 90’s.   POES in the 1990’s.   And GOES-R since 2007.   The experience I gained in the DMSP and POES programs led to my current situation in the highly successful GOES-R program.  The first satellite of the NOAA GOES-R series, scheduled for launch in Oct 2016, will usher in a new era in geostationary environmental satellites, providing improved spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions. The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) will scan the Earth nearly five times faster than the current GOES. The satellites will provide the user communities, including the general public, television meteorologists, private weather companies, the aviation and agricultural communities, oceanographers, hydrologists, climatologists, and national and international government agencies with about 30 times the amount of data currently provided.

GOES-R will also host a totally new instrument, the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM).  The GLM is designed to continuously map all forms of lightning with a high spatial resolution and detection efficiency over the Western Hemisphere. It will provide information to improve severe storm monitoring and warnings and contribute to improved aircraft safety and efficient flight route planning.

In addition to the acquisition of the GOES-R System, the GOES-R Program is also actively involved in user readiness activities, such as the GOES-Users’ Conferences, the GOES-R Proving Grounds, user education through COMET, VISIT, and SHyMet.  The goal is to ensure that GOES-R products will provide full benefits to the user communities from the first day of operations.

The new instruments, improved Spacecraft, and Ground System will allow for a host of new environmental products and services, while improving most of the products and services that are currently provided. The new observations will contribute to dramatically improved weather, water, and space environmental services in the next decades, enhancing public safety and providing economic benefits to the U.S. and our international partners.