Satellite images of Hurricane Irma that show its size as it moves toward Florida show off one of the National Weather Service’s newest high-tech tools: an $11 billion satellite known as GOES-16.
Tracking powerful storms and relaying data and information back to earth, ground systems for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite were built by Harris Corporation in Central Florida.
Although it’s still in a testing phase – the satellite isn’t expected to fully go live until November – the powerful back-to-back hurricanes of Irma and Harvey in recent weeks have given the agency a chance to test it out.
The data it has collected is meant to improve forecasters’ predictions and, so far, GOES-16 has passed its early tests, experts say.
“GOES-16 is giving us a keen sense of the intensity of the hurricane,” said Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist at the National Weather Center’s Weather Prediction Center. “The key is to get as much information to the public as accurately and as quickly as possible. With data coming in as quickly as it does now, it gives a forecaster more confidence in their predictions.”
The satellite can send updated data to forecasters as frequently as every 30 seconds. Previous satellites often took several minutes.
“We are dealing with high-impact weather,” Orrison said. “It’s a major asset and it’s making a difference.”
NASA launched the GOES-16 satellite Nov. 19 on a United launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. It was renamed after reaching orbit, previously known as GOES-R, and is the first of a four-satellite system meant to modernize what had been an aging fleet of prediction aides.
The GOES-16 has been gathering information that includes wind speeds, water temperature and other data in real time. That data will eventually be automatically entered into forecast models.
Meteorologists have been using the data constantly to update forecast models and keep the public informed, said Eric Webster, vice president of Harris Corp’s environmental solutions team. Overnight hours can get a boost in particular, he said.
“These hurricanes don’t sleep,” he said. “They keep churning, so the ability to see some data and information at night has been critical.”
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