NOAA releases first images from GOES-18 Satellite

McCall Vrydaghs
·1 min read

NOAA has some exciting news to share. On May 11th, NOAA gave us a fresh look at the Western Hemisphere using the new GOES-18 satellite. This latest satellite was launched on March 1st and will eventually replace GOES-17.

GOES-18 full disk GeoColor image from May 5, 2022. This type of imagery combines data from multiple ABI channels to approximate what the human eye would see from space.
GOES-18 full disk GeoColor image from May 5, 2022. This type of imagery combines data from multiple ABI channels to approximate what the human eye would see from space.

This newest geostationary satellite recently captured stunning views of the our planet using the satellite’s Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI). The ABI can view Earth with sixteen different channels, measuring energy at different wavelengths along the electromagnetic spectrum to obtain information about the atmosphere, land, and ocean.

This GOES-18 image shows the contiguous United States observed by each of the ABI’s 16 channels on May 5, 2022. This 16-panel image shows the ABI’s two visible, four near-infrared and 10 infrared channels. The visible and near-IR bands are gray-colored, while the infrared bands have the warmer brightness temperatures mapped to warmer colors. The different appearance of each band is due to how each band reflects or absorbs radiation. Each spectral band was scanned at approximately the same time, starting at 18 UTC.

According to NOAA, “The ABI provides high-resolution imagery and atmospheric measurements for short-term forecasts and severe weather warnings. ABI data is also used for detecting and monitoring environmental hazards such as wildfires, dust storms, volcanic eruptions, turbulence, and fog.”

GOES-18 is undergoing “post-launching testing” to “validate and calibrate” its instruments and systems.

By late summer GOES-18 will assist GOES-17 with GOES west operations until early 2023 when it will replace GOES-17 completely.