GOES-R: It's About to Get Real!

The GOES-R series satellites represent a leap forward in capabilities for the entire portfolio of GOES science products. GOES-R satellites provide enhanced spectral, temporal, and spatial information, and with the deployment of a new system with new capabilities such as the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), user readiness becomes an increasingly important activity. The broadcast community will face a new challenge to communicate these improvements and understand their effects on forecasting. The GOES-R Product Readiness and Operations (PRO) team is tasked to work with our partners at the National Weather Service (NWS) and within the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) to ensure that the satellite products are ready for operations and the user community is ready to receive and disseminate the various products to serve their needs and requirements.

One new operational capability that will revolutionize forecasting is the Flex Mode scanning strategy of the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) that will produce mesoscale scans every 30 or 60 seconds. The PRO team worked with many partners in the NWS, NESDIS, and the GOES-R Ground Segment to develop a comprehensive process for determining how these Mesoscale Domain Sectors (MDS) will be placed in an efficient manner for operations.

This presentation will highlight the recent launch of GOES-R (now on-orbit as GOES-16), how data have been released, and the ongoing data validation process. It will also describe the MDS location request process during operations, including a new visualization tool, and training of the NWS community that has been done to prepare for this new process during operations, highlight recent examples of forecasting utility within the NWS, and outline where to find training information.