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Forecasters will soon be able to see real-time mapping of lightning activity on Earth and take a closer look at solar storms unleashed by the Sun, thanks to a new weather satellite.
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration jointly launched the GOES-U, or Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, mission on Tuesday.
The weather satellite launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:26 p.m. ET. The launch was streamed live on NASA’s website. Weather conditions in Florida were 60% favorable for launch at the start of the launch window.
GOES-U is the fourth, final satellite of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R Series, “the most sophisticated weather observation and environmental monitoring system in the Western Hemisphere,” according to NOAA.
“The GOES-R series of satellites has been a game-changer for us,” Ken Graham, director of NOAA’s National Weather Service, said during a press conference Monday. “Since the series was first launched in 2016, the latest generation of GOES has enabled new and improved forecasting and warning services that help save lives and protect property.”
Miguel J. Rodriguea Carrillo/AFP/Getty Images
A SpaceX rocket carrying the new GOES-U satellite sits on launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center before launch on Tuesday.
Once GOES-U reaches geostationary orbit or circular orbit above the Earth’s equator, the satellite will be renamed GOES-19 or GOES East. The satellite will replace GOES-16, the former GOES East satellite launched in 2016, and will operate in tandem with GOES-18, also called GOES West. In the meantime, the GOES-16 satellite will essentially become an in-orbit system backup in case one of the satellites goes down.
The GOES-18 and GOES-19 satellites will together collect atmospheric, solar, climate and ocean data and cover more than half of the globe from the west coast of Africa to New Zealand.
What sets GOES-U apart from other satellites is that it carries a new capability to monitor space weather.
As the Sun approaches solar maximum — the peak of its 11-year cycle, expected this year — it becomes more active. Scientists have observed increasingly intense solar flares and coronal mass ejections emanating from the solar surface.
Coronal mass ejections are large clouds of ionized gas called plasma and magnetic fields that are released from the Sun’s outer atmosphere.
When these blasts are directed at Earth, they can cause geomagnetic storms or large disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field. With these events, there is always a chance that communications, power grid, navigation and radio and satellite operations will be affected.
Atmospheric Imaging Assembly
Solar activity is seen swirling on the sun on May 10. The new GOES-U satellite is expected to greatly improve predictions of solar flares and coronal mass ejections — huge bubbles of plasma that can disrupt Earth’s power grids and communications.
The most intense solar storm to hit Earth in 20 years happened on May 10, but luckily it only caused the auroras to shine over states that have never seen the aurora borealis.
Increased solar activity causes the aurora borealis that dance around the Earth’s poles, known as the aurora borealis or aurora borealis, and the southern lights or aurora borealis. When energized particles from coronal mass ejections reach Earth’s magnetic field, they interact with gases in the atmosphere to create different colored lights in the sky.
GOES-U carries several instruments that will improve the detection of space weather hazards, including the Compact Coronagraph-1, which can detect solar flares and coronal mass ejections, as well as characterize the size, speed, density and direction of these solar storms.
The coronagraph will provide continuous observations of the solar corona, or the hot outer layer of the sun’s atmosphere, which is where space weather events originate, said Elsayed Talaat, director of NOAA’s Office of Space Weather Observations.
The instrument’s capabilities will allow NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center to issue warnings and monitors one to four days in advance and “mark a new chapter in space weather observation,” Talaat said.
The Compact Coronagraph-1 is the world’s first operational satellite coronagraph to better monitor the Sun, said Steve Volz, assistant administrator for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service.
“This new instrument will provide images of the solar corona to our forecasters at the Space Weather Prediction Center within 30 minutes, compared to the previous time of about eight hours,” Graham said. “Geomagnetic storms can affect our infrastructure here on Earth by threatening our power grid, communications, navigation systems, aviation and space facilities. Better and faster observation will help us better alert our infrastructure providers and potential hazards so they can take action.”
From orbit, GOES-U will monitor weather, climate and environmental hazards in North, Central and South America, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean to the west coast of Africa.
From its unique location, GOES-U will be able to record tropical storms, send warnings to forecasters as storms form in the Atlantic Ocean, and provide near-real-time tracking and monitoring.
The satellite carries a suite of scientific instruments, including imaging and mapping technology, that will allow it to capture valuable data about hurricanes, including upper-level wind speeds, specific characteristics of the hurricane’s eye and lightning activity, all of which can better help forecasters. understand the possible risks.
GOES-U will carry the first operational lightning mapper flown in geostationary orbit. As storms develop, they tend to show spikes in lightning activity. Understanding how storms develop and intensify can help meteorologists better predict whether storms will be able to cause flash flooding, produce hail, damaging winds, or spawn tornadoes.
The Lightning Mapper will take pictures of Earth at 500 times per second to track lightning like never before, Sullivan said.
The main camera on GOES-U can zoom in and track hazardous weather and environmental conditions every 30 seconds, a feature that enables better warning systems, said Pam Sullivan, GOES-R program director for NOAA.
Forecasters can also use GOES-U tools to identify wildfire risks, including hot spots, intensity, smoke output and air quality impacts, and even data that can help trackers predict fire movement. The satellite can also use its lightning mapper to determine which lightning strikes are most likely to ignite wildfires.
Other environmental hazards that GOES-U can monitor include real-time images of fog and low clouds that can affect air and sea travel, as well as detection of volcanic eruptions and ash and sulfur dioxide emitted from volcanoes. GOES-U will also be able to monitor atmospheric river events, or large parts of the Earth’s atmosphere that transport moisture from the equator to the poles that are capable of causing floods and mudslides.
In addition to early warning of hurricane formation, GOES-U can also collect climate data in Earth’s oceans, such as signs of sea heat and sea surface temperatures that impact the marine food chain and can lead to mass coral bleaching.