Approaching GOES-R Launch: Overview of Baseline Level 2 Products Generated from End-to-End Runs with Simulated Data

GOES-R, the next generation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) System, is scheduled for launch in early 2016. GOES-R represents a new technological era in operational geostationary environmental satellite systems and provides advanced products based on government-supplied algorithms. These products describe the state of the atmosphere, land, and oceans over the Western Hemisphere. The Harris GOES-R Core Ground Segment (GS) Team has provided the ground-processing software and infrastructure needed to produce and distribute these data products subject to user-specified latency requirements. In this paper, we focus on the new Level 2+ algorithms being deployed in the GOES-R program. We give an overview of the key aspects of the implementation and multi-stage testing that will inform users of these products. We highlight products generated from end-to-end runs that demonstrate the L2 algorithm processing chain and other dependencies using government-provided simulated data for the GOES-R sensors. Finally we outline a streamlined process for updating scientific configuration and algorithms, on an as-needed basis, over the life of the mission.