Extended Abstract (628K)3.10
First Forecast Products from the GOES-12 Solar X-ray Imager
Christopher C. Balch, NOAA Space Environment Center, Boulder, CO; and S. M. Hill, V. J. Pizzo, and D. C. Wilkinson
The Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) was launched 23 July 2001 on NOAA's GOES-12 satellite. When the spacecraft enters operation, this instrument will provide routine, nearly uninterrupted, full-disk, soft X-ray movies of the Sun’s outer atmosphere or corona. This is the first instrument of its kind flown by NOAA and the first of its kind flown by any organization for routine space weather forecasting operations. The instrument’s 0.6-6.0 nm bandpass makes it sensitive to the coronal temperature range of 106-107 K. The corona is the source of most space weather disturbances. The imaging nature of the SXI will add two-spatial dimensions to the already routine observations of disk-integrated solar X-ray intensity. The NOAA Space Environment Center (SEC) will use the images in its Space Weather Operations. At the time of this conference, the SXI will have completed initial on-orbit testing and calibration. This paper will present results of that test period and will describe operational forecast products to be generated. System performance will be assessed along with its impact on the forecast products.
Session 3, Advances in Satellite Observing
Tuesday, 15 January 2002, 8:30 AM-12:00 PM
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