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Forecasters will soon be able to see real-time mapping of Earth’s lightning activity and keep a closer eye on solar storms unleashed by the sun, thanks to a new weather satellite.
Together, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration launched GOES-U, or the Geostationary Operational Satellite U mission, on Tuesday.
The weather satellite lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:26 p.m. ET. The launch is being 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-last satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R series, “the most sophisticated weather 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 forecast and warning services to help save lives and protect property.”
Miguel J. Rodrigea Carrillo/AFP/Getty Images
The SpaceX rocket carrying the new GOES-U satellite sits on Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center prior to Tuesday’s launch.
Once GOES-U reaches geostationary orbit, or a circular orbit above 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 work in tandem with GOES-18, also called GOES West. Meanwhile, the GOES-16 satellite will essentially become an orbiting backup for the system in case one of the satellites falls.
Together, the GOES-18 and GOES-19 satellites will collect atmospheric, solar, climate and ocean data and cover more than half the globe from the west coast of Africa to New Zealand.
What sets GOES-U apart from other satellites is that it brings a new capability to monitor space weather.
As the sun approaches solar maximum — the peak in its 11-year cycle expected this year — it becomes more active. Researchers have observed increasingly intense solar flares and coronal mass ejections erupting from the sun’s surface.
Coronal mass ejections are large clouds of ionized gas called plasma and magnetic fields that are ejected from the sun’s outer atmosphere.
When these bursts are directed toward Earth, they can cause geomagnetic storms, or large disturbances in Earth’s magnetic field. In these events, there is always a chance that communications, power grid, navigation and radio and satellite operations will be affected.
Atmospheric image assembly
Solar activity can be seen spinning over 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 thankfully it only caused auroras to shine over countries that never see the northern lights.
Increased solar activity causes auroras that dance around Earth’s poles, known as the northern lights, or aurora borealis, and the southern lights, or australis. When energized particles from a coronal mass ejection reach Earth’s magnetic field, they interact with gases in the atmosphere to create different colored lights in the sky.
GOES-U carries numerous 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 sun’s corona, or the hot outer layer of the sun’s atmosphere, where space weather events originate, said Elsaed 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 watches one to four days in advance and “marks a new chapter in space weather observations,” Talaat said.
The Compact Coronagraph-1 is the world’s first operational satellite coronagraph for better solar observation, said Steve Volz, assistant administrator for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service.
“This new instrument will deliver 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, putting our power grid, communications, navigation systems, aviation and space assets at risk. Having better and faster monitoring 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 vantage point, GOES-U will be able to spot tropical storms, send warnings to forecasters as storms form in the Atlantic Ocean, and provide near-real-time tracking and monitoring.
The satellite has 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 to help forecasters better understand potential 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 Mapping Device will take pictures of Earth at 500 times per second to track lightning like never before, Sullivan said.
GOES-U’s primary camera can zoom in to track hazardous weather and environmental conditions as often as every 30 seconds, a capability that allows for better warning systems, said Pam Sullivan, director of the GOES-U program. R for NOAA.
Forecasters can also use GOES-U tools to identify wildfire risks, including hotspots, intensity, smoke emissions and air quality impacts, and even data that can help tracking devices predict movement of the fires. 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 imaging of fog and low clouds that can affect air and sea travel, as well as detection of volcanic eruptions and the ash and sulfur dioxide spewed from the volcanoes. GOES-U will also be able to monitor atmospheric river events, or large tracts of 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 about Earth’s oceans, such as signs of marine heat waves and sea surface temperatures that affect the marine food chain and can lead to mass events of coral bleaching.
