NOAA has ordered new satellites
Two new weather satellites with the latest technology have been ordered and will be ready for orbit in 2015. NOAA will spend $1.09 billion on the GOES-R geostationary satellites. GOES-R will provide more data in greater detail, and that will lead to better weather forecasts. The improvement to the weather instruments and sensors will provide 50 times more weather and climate data than we get with today’s GOES satellites.
One of the biggest improvements comes with its hurricane sensing capabilities. GOES-R will take sharper images of hurricanes every 30 seconds. The current GOES satellite takes images every 7.5 minutes. GOES-R will also have improved monitoring of sea surface temperatures, which is vital when forecasting whether a hurricane will strengthen or weaken.
A new feature with GOES-R will be the Geostationary Lightning Mapper, which can quickly detect lightning flashes anywhere in the western hemisphere. This will lead to improvements in severe thunderstorm and tornado forecasting. This satellite will also come with improved monitoring of temperatures in metropolitan areas, which will lead to improved warnings for heat stress, and better monitoring of unhealthy air quality.
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on 12/26 at 07:27 PM
