GOES-16 Drift and Transition to Operations

January 31, 2018

GOES-16 began drifting to the GOES East operational location of 75.2 degrees west longitude on November 30, 2017. GOES-16 reached 75.2 degrees west on December 11, 2017 and data flow resumed to users on December 14. On December 18, 2017, GOES-16 was declared NOAA’s GOES East operational satellite.

Access GOES-16 operational imagery through the GOES East Image Viewer

On December 14, 2017, GOES-13 direct GVAR was disabled. GOES-13 GVAR and LRIT were relayed through GOES-14 until January 8, 2018, at which time the GOES-13 GVAR relay through GOES-14 GVAR was disabled. GOES-13 ceased transmitting data on January 8 and began drifting to its storage location at 60 degrees west on January 9. The satellite arrived at 60 degrees west on January 31.

Now that the GOES-13 GVAR data stream is permanently deactivated, a number of satellite derived products using GOES-13 data are unavailable. NOAA/NESDIS plans to produce a set of equivalent products from the new GOES East satellite (GOES-16); however, in some cases legacy products will be degraded or discontinued entirely as a result of the loss of GOES East coverage. Therefore, all users should review our product transition status documentation that outlines those changes and/or discontinued products.

Additionally, to facilitate user awareness and effectively prepare for the transition from GOES-13 to GOES-16 GOES East operations, the Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO) has established the an informational webpage on the transition. Users may reference this webpage and refer to ESPC notifications for the latest updates on the transition.

GOES East Transition Plan for Replacement of GOES-13 with GOES-16

Please Note: The following dates are subject to change based on operational needs.

Notes: No planned maneuvers / special operations during Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. No GOES East transition / interruption during Critical Weather Days.

GOES East assignment details which do not appear above:

1. LZSS data availability and SUVI cal activities are not on this slide because they are not pertinent to the user community.
2. ANCF/BNCF AWIPS and PDA distribution activities are not on this slide because those notifications are handled separately via NWS and PDA, respectively.