Status of the GOES-R Series GOES Rebroadcast

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) is significantly enhancing the Nation’s Direct Broadcast (DB) capabilities with the new Direct Broadcast (DB) services provided by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R) Series. GOES-R launched on November 19, 2016, and is now GOES-16, providing the GOES Rebroadcast (GRB) from the GOES East position in December 2017. The GRB provides Level 1b data from each instrument and Level 2 data from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM). The GRB service significantly improves the DB capability provided by the legacy GOES VARiable (GVAR) and includes data from the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), GLM, space environment, and solar instruments at a data rate of 31 Mbps. The GRB provides a full disk image every 5 or 15 minutes, depending on the mode. Additional information is available in the Product User's Guide Volume 4 and the Downlink Specifications at: http://www.goes-r.gov/users/grb.html. GVAR users must upgrade or acquire a new antenna and acquire a GRB compatible receiver/demodulator, and acquire a processing system in order to receive the higher volume of GOES-R series data through the GRB. Additional information is available at: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Services. The GRB vendors, system integrators, and several users, including NOAA’s National Weather Service, borrowed GRB simulators from the GOES-R program in order to verify their solutions prior to launch. They were ready when science data was added to the GRB in February 2017 and participated in the GOES-16 Post-launch Test phase. Feedback from GRB users resulted in the correction of several issues during PLT and the extended validation phase. There are over 70 members in the GRB User Group and all organizations with a GRB receive station are encouraged to join. Members receive notifications from NESDIS and share lessons learned and information. GRB users receive Level 1b products faster than through terrestrial distribution and can create Level 2 products using the Community Satellite Processing Package for Geostationary Data (CSPP Geo) software. The GRB User Group is expected to continue to grow as GOES-S is launched in 2018 and assumes the GOES West position as GOES-17. This presentation includes examples of products and lessons learned with the GOES-16 GRB.