Applications of GOES-8/9 data to hurricane analysis

Abstract

GOES-8 was successfully launched in 1994, and has performed up to expeditions and in some cases has actually exceeded pre-launch specifications. A similar geostationary satellite, GOES-9, was launched in May of 1995. This new generation of NOAA's geostationary satellites carry a superior design and instrumentation package that allow for greater detection of meteorological features and parameters. The new GOES imager has a 5 band multispectral capability with high spatial resolution, while the sounder contains 18 thermal infrared (IR) bands plus a low resolution visible band. The imager carries a visible channel with 1 10-bit quantization and increased sampling frequency, a short-wave and long-wave window channel, and a water vapor band with a twofold increase in spatial resolution and a factor of 3 improvement in signal-to-noise over that obtained from previous GOES sensors. The advances in observing the earth's atmospheric system anticipated from these improvements are outlined in Menzel and Purdom (1994). The specific impact of this improved remote sensing capability on the analysis of tropical cyclones is discussed here