GOES-18 to Become GOES-West Jan 4, 2023

On or near January 4, 2023, at 1800 UTC, GOES-18, the newest satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) series, will become the operational GOES-West satellite, replacing GOES-17. As of that date, all data products from GOES-18 will permanently replace those from GOES-17 on the Satellite Broadcast Network (SBN). This will include the following GOES-West data products:

- Sectorized Cloud and Moisture Imagery (SCMI);

- Level-2 (L2) derived products (e.g. Total Precipitable Water, Fog and Low Stratus);

- Other products such as composite imagery

Details on these products and the transition may be found in the Service Change Notice SCN22-113, and in the OSPO message linked here. The GOES-18 transition to operations will occur regardless of a Critical Weather Day declaration.

Current AWIPS configurations will handle the transition of GOES-18 to GOES-West, with the exception of the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) that flows out over the regional LDMs. Action is needed to maintain this data as outlined below. 

Action needed to receive GOES-18 Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) products

When GOES-18 GLM replaces GOES-17 GLM on January 4, GLM products will continue to flow from the regional Local Data Managers (LDMs). An LDM update is required for NWS forecast offices to receive GOES-18 GLM (no action is required for GOES-East GLM).  An instruction is included here. For more information please contact the TOWR-S team in the NWS Chat (towr-s room), or you can contact Lee Byerle (lee.byerle@noaa.gov).

GOES-18 ABI Imagery and Derived Products in AWIPS

GOES-18 ABI sectorized cloud and moisture imagery, channel differences, RGB composites, and derived products will populate AWIPS in the West Sector menus beginning at approximately 18Z on January 4th, 2023. You can confirm initially that GOES-18 imagery is arriving through the AWIPS Product Browser. In AWIPS D2D, select CAVE->Data Browsers->Product Browser (browser opens). Then under "Satellite," "GOES-18" will appear, with imagery channels available for selection.

AWIPS products will also populate the GOES-West By-Sector sub menus, where GOES-17 usually appears. For example, Satellite->GOES-East and GOES-West By Sector-> West Conus (or Meso or Full Disk)-> Imagery Channels (or Channel Differences, or RGB Composites, or Derived Products). The display legend (bottom-right of screen) will show "GOES-18" for the imagery products.

A note about the AWIPS CAVE display legend: GOES-18 will start updating for a given imagery band or product automatically if West Sector imagery or products have already been loaded from the menu (no AWIPS configuration changes are required). In that case, the frames may begin updating with GOES-18 data times while CAVE retains "GOES-17" in the legend. This is temporary and is the result of GOES-17 having been loaded previously from the same menu button. If you clear and reload, a "GOES-17" label in the legend may persist until your selected frame count upon the initial loading no longer includes valid times for GOES-17 (e.g., prior to approximately 18Z on January 4, 2023).

GOES SCMI Changes Over SBN

GOES-18 SCMI will implement the spectral and geographic coverage changes described in SCN22-94 for GOES-West. Details include Full Disk Band 13 at 2km resolution; no Southern Hemisphere or Hawaii sector; and adding Band 13 imagery for a new American Samoa sector. (The American Samoa sector spans 5S to 25S, and 170E to 160W. Sites that don't need it for operations won't see it in their feed.). As noted in SCN22-94, the changes listed will be temporarily reverted on or near January 31, 2023, and reinstated permanently on or near March 6, 2023.

The TOWR-S team will provide near-real time updates on the transition to GOES-18 to GOES-West in the NWSChat "towr-s" room. Please contact the team via NWSChat or via email to Lee Byerle (lee.byerle@noaa.gov) if we can provide more information.