{"id":9626,"date":"2017-01-23T15:19:06","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T21:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/?p=9626"},"modified":"2019-03-05T16:57:27","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T16:57:27","slug":"goes-16-true-color-makes-a-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/articles\/9626","title":{"rendered":"GOES-16: First light in true color"},"content":{"rendered":"
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GOES-16 Advanced Baseline Imager sent back its first high-res, true color images of Earth in mid-January 2017. Credit: NOAA, NASA<\/p><\/div>\n

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After spending months in space, quietly orbiting the Earth, the next generation of geosynchronous satellite has broken its silence and sent back its first images to Earth. With a suite of onboard instruments, GOES-16 delivers rapid, high-resolution imagery of the Earth\u2019s atmosphere, giving researchers and a host of users an unprecedented look for weather forecast applications.<\/p>\n

On January 23, 2017, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released<\/a> the GOES-16\u00a0“first light” images of Earth<\/a> in high resolution. The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) and Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), and other partners, have been working with NOAA from day one to make GOES-16 a reality. Taken from more than 22,000 miles away, GOES-16 offers striking imagery of the planet and its weather.<\/p>\n

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The first “full disk” image from GOES-16, taken early 2017. Credit: NOAA, NASA<\/p><\/div>\n

For more than 40 years, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) have been serving a critical role in monitoring weather systems over the United States. And for just as long \u2013 even longer \u2013 SSEC and CIMSS at UW-Madison have been proposing, testing, and evaluating each generation of satellite instruments and sensors, as well as analyzing their data.Compared to current GOES satellites in orbit, the ABI\u2019s assortment of lenses and mirrors and detectors gives it three times more spectral bands, four times greater spatial resolution, and can capture data five times faster, sending images of Earth as often as every 30 seconds (for mesoscale observations). These upgrades will augment the tools used by researchers and forecasters to improve weather predictions and increase warning times.<\/p>\n

A true color comeback<\/h4>\n

A familiar yet often overlooked channel, visible light, has made its comeback as part of GOES-16\u2019s Earth-focused instrument, the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI). Visible light comprises the range of wavelengths that can be seen with the naked eye. A true color image of Earth, which uses that visible light, depicts features like blue oceans, white clouds, and green vegetation, similar to a film camera.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to see true color come back into the mix,\u201d says Tim Schmit, NOAA satellite research scientist working with researchers at the UW-Madison CIMSS. \u201cNot only does it help round out the toolkit available on the ABI, but the true color images have long had an impact on how we see our Earth and its weather,\u201d adds Schmit.<\/p>\n

A true color image of 2016 Hurricane Matthew making landfall over the U.S. eastern coast. True color imagers have historically been a part of many polar-orbiting satellites, unlike their geostationary cousins.\u00a0Image credit: SSEC<\/p><\/div>\n

The majority of the ABI\u2019s channels are in the infrared (IR) spectral region, plus four bands in the near-IR spectral region. With 16 channels<\/a> in total, the ABI rounds out its array with two channels in the visible light range, both blue and red. A near-infrared detector known as the \u201cvegetation band\u201d serves as the ABI\u2019s green color substitute and is able to detect areas of vegetation based on how much light is reflected.<\/p>\n

Combine all three channels and the result is a natural color image, full of details\u2014snow capped mountains, flooded rivers, Atlantic storms, fog, and clear skies. Infrared, on the other hand, requires digital translation to convert their data into something eye-catching. The resulting visualizations, however, deliver a wealth of information about clouds, their altitudes, and the conditions that formed them.<\/p>\n

Earth, as seen though visible light, has long captured imaginations throughout history. From top-left clockwise: Earth Rise taken by Apollo 8 astronauts on the Moon (1968), The Blue Marble taken by Apollo 17 astronauts in low-Earth orbit (1972), the first true color full-disk image of Earth taken by ATS-III geosynchronous satellite (1967), The 2012 Blue Marble taken by polar orbiting satellite Suomi NPP. Image credits: NASA, NOAA, SSEC<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cFrom a data standpoint, each band has its strengths and limitations,\u201d says Schmit. \u201cVisible light offers us the qualitative information we need, while infrared gives the quantitative details, all of which are needed to understand something as complex as our atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the next 15 years, GOES-16 will transmit droves of data back to Earth, where receivers atop the SSEC building pick up incoming signals and start the computationally intense process, transforming them into useful information and imagery. Staff at SSEC and CIMSS, working with NOAA scientists, will translate the satellite\u2019s signals into products that can be used to improve forecasts and monitor various phenomena.<\/p>\n

On average, GOES-16 sends 100s of GBs of data per day and is stored on SSEC\u2019s Data Center servers. Once compiled, the digital mosaics give scientists the ability to compare and contrast imagery and analyze the details locked away in each pixel.<\/p>\n

Looking back<\/h4>\n

Imagery from weather satellites has come a long way since the world\u2019s first geostationary satellite, ATS-I<\/a>, launched in 1966. This satellite carried a single camera, centralized in the \u201cgreen\u201d part of the visible electromagnetic spectrum. Through this monochromatic lens, ATS-I was able to capture the first full-disk images of Earth<\/a>. They were later compiled into motion pictures showing the movements of clouds over the Pacific Ocean. The following year, ATS-III launched and sent back its view of the Earth, this time in true color using a full array of red, green, and blue channels (see the video below).<\/p>\n