1. GOES Instrument CONOPS Considerations
Tim Walsh
GOES-R Program
With support from Tom Renkevens, Mike Madden, Monica Coakley, Tim Schmit, Brian Hughes and others
4th GOES-R Users’ Conference
Broomfield, CO
Tuesday, May 2, 2006

2. Topics Today’s Constellation Typical Scanning Scenarios
Tasking Impacts
Special Tasking
ABI and HES Modes
Trade Studies
Points for Consideration
Summary

3. Today’s GOES Constellation
Deorbited 5/2/04
350km high
GOES-9
Slow drift east
GOES-12
75 deg W
GOES-10
135 deg W
GOES-11
ZAP Storage
105 deg W

4. Instrument Scan Scenarios Current Constellation
Routine
3 hour sequence
full disk scan, followed by five half-hour sequences that include extended northern hemi, CONUS, and southern hemi scans
Full-Disk
Full disks every half hour (with BB cals and stars)
Rapid Scan Operations (RSO)
Doubles CONUS coverage (to 4X per half hour)
Drops Southern Hemi coverage
Full disks every three hours for synoptic coverage
Super Rapid Scan Operations (SRSO) is a subset of RSO that provides up to 1 min. scanning over specified areas (canned sectors or lat/lon)

5. GOES-East Imager Scanning
4:48
14:15
4:49
26:06

6. Typical Instrument Outages Current Constellation
Daily Housekeeping
up to four 10-minute periods, each separated by 6 hours
Momentum unloading
Image Motion Compensation (IMC) coefficient uploads
Solar Array and Trim Tab daily repositioning
On-Board Clock Reset
Space Environment Monitoring calibration (weekly)
Stationkeeping Maneuvers
East-West - ~ every 3 months – 1.5 hour outage
North-South – yearly – 2.5 hour outage
Eclipse and Instrument Keep-Out-Zones (KOZ)
See following example

7. Eclipse and KOZ Outages Current Constellation
Seasonal outages for a 74 day period (Aug 12, to October 24, 2005)
27 hours outage due to keep out zones
94 hours outage due to eclipse
Imaging Day 287 (October 14, 2005)
10 minute outage due to keep out zones (KOZ)
65 minute outage due to eclipse (ECL)

8. GOES East Schedule (October 14, 2005)
02:45:00 FULL DISK 26:06
03:31:30 CONTINENTAL US (CONUS) 4:48
03:39:10 SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE 4:49
03:45:00 NORTHERN HEMISPHERE-EXTENDED 14:15
04:01:30 CONTINENTAL US (CONUS) 4:48
04:09:10 SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE 4:49
04:15:00 NORTHERN HEMISPHERE-EXTENDED 14:15
04:31:30 CONTINENTAL US (CONUS) 4:48
04:39:10 SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE 4:49
04:45:00 NORTHERN HEMISPHERE-EXTENDED 14:15
05:01:30 CONTINENTAL US (CONUS) 4:48
05:09:10 LIMITED SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE 4:32
05:15:00 NORTHERN HEMISPHERE-EXTENDED 14:15
05:31:30 CONTINENTAL US (CONUS) 4:48
05:39:10 SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE 4:49
05:45:00 FULL DISK 26:06
06:15:00 NORTHERN HEMISPHERE-EXTENDED 14:15
~10 min outage (KOZ)
~65 min outage (ECL)

9. Eclipse Outage Comparisons
GOES-I/M Series
No imaging during eclipse
No imaging when solar intrusion angle less than 6 degrees
0 - 3 hour daily outage based on both eclipse and keep out zone
GOES-NOP Series
Imaging during eclipse
Batteries sized to provide operation through maximum eclipse period (~72 minutes)
Solar intrusion similar to GOES-I/M (similar instruments)
0 - 2 hour daily outage based only on keep out zones
GOES-R Series
0 - 1 hour daily outage based only on Keep Out Zones
Smaller solar intrusion angle than GOES-I/M imager

10. Eclipse/KOZ Imager Outages Current Constellation

11. GOES Rapid Scan Operations Tasking
Rapid, Super-Rapid or other special
Imaging Requests
Satellite Analysis
Branch
(NESDIS/OSDPD)
Satellite Operations
Control Center
(NESDIS/OSO)
Maneuvers, eclipses and other periodic events;
Spacecraft, instrument or GS anomalies
Routine event or
emergency cancellation
notifications
CIRA (research community requests)
USAF 45th Weather Squadron
Rapid, Super-Rapid or other special imaging requests, extensions and cancellations
Tropical Prediction Center (TPC)
Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (HPC)
Storm Prediction Center (SPC)
Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)
Spaceflight Meteorology Group (SMG)
NWS Forecast Offices (via Regional Offices)
National Center for
Environmental Prediction
(NWS/NCEP)

12. Satellite Analysis Branch
RSO Request Flow Chart
NWS Meteorologists
Monitor Weather
OSDPD ESPC Calls
OSO SOCC
Shift Supervisor
SDM Calls NESDIS
Satellite Analysis Branch
Do weather
conditions warrant
RSO or SRSO? no
Does
SAB
Approve?
Does SOCC
Shift Supervisor
Approve? no no
yes
yes
Call NWS
Senior Duty
Meteorologist
yes
Inform
Requestor of
Denial
and
Reason
SAB Calls
OSDPD ESPC
Shift Supervisor
Execute RSO
SDM Calls
Key Users*
OSO SOCC
Calls OSDPD ESPC
Shift Supervisor
Does
OSDPD ESPC
Shift Supervisor
Approve?
Do key
users
approve schedule
change?
yes
yes no
ESPC Calls SAB
and informs users
SAB Calls SDM no
OSO Calls ESPC
Shift Supervisor
SAB Calls SDM
ESPC Calls SAB
SDM informs
NWS via
admin bulletin

13. GOES Evolution
Notes:
IR Resolution: I-N 8km WV

14. ABI Scan Modes Scan mode 3 has interwoven observations that accomplish
A mesoscale (located anywhere in the full disk) every 30 second
A 5000 km x 3000 km CONUS every 5 minutes
A full disk observation every 15 minutes (due to the interruptions)
Scan mode 4 has uninterrupted observation of the Full Disk
A Full Disk in 5 minutes

15. Current GOES scans 5 times slower
than the ABI
There are two anticipated scan modes for the ABI:
- FD images every 15 minutes + CONUS images every 5 minutes + mesoscale
- FD every 5 minutes.

16. Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES)Tasks
HES -Disk Sounding (HES-DS)
62 degree LZA/hour coverage rate at 10 km spatial resolution
HES -Severe Weather / Mesoscale (HES-SW/M)
1000 km x 1000 km / 4.4 minutes coverage rate at 4 km spatial resolution
HES -Coastal Waters (HES-CW)
US Exclusive Economic Zone coverage (400 km wide) by length of US coastline (~ 6000 km) in 3 hours at 375 m spatial resolution

17. ABI and HES Considerations
Coverage rates of the instruments can be exploited for optimal observations
ABI provides a faster coverage rate at lower spectral resolution than the HES
ABI measurements can be exploited to benefit slower HES scan rates
Cloud cover masks can help direct the HES to regions of clear air for all HES tasks
Finer spatial resolution of the ABI IR bands and of the reflected solar bands can assist in HES determination of surface emissivity, and surface temperature (land and sea surface T).
HES-CW task coverage rate is slower than that of the sounding tasks
HES–CW task has finer spatial resolution than the ABI which may help in storm observations and in storm track assessment

18. GOES-R Tasking Trade Studies
Trade studies are currently underway that may impact instrument tasking:
“Perform a trade study to utilize spacecraft and instrument data to perform “smart tasking” of on-board science payloads. Investigate the integration of sensor fusion and “tip off” techniques to dynamically task the ABI, HES and/or other instruments.”
“Identify and assess techniques which eliminate or greatly reduce the time that the level-1b data products are out of specification as the result of spacecraft maneuvers. Spacecraft maneuvers include: momentum management, yaw flip and stationkeeping. Describe advanced concepts that may be used to increase operational availability.”
From: “NOAA GOES-R Solicitation No.: DG133E-05-RP-1034, Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL),
March 22, 2005”

19. Questions for Consideration
How will RSO tasking requirements change given the vastly improved temporal resolution of ABI?
Will the sort of dynamic tasking used today really even be necessary given the frequency of an ABI mode-3 scenario?
How does the system utilize science or engineering data to maximize effective science data recovery?
Inter- or intra-platform data utilization
What process should be used in determining the observational priorities for the instruments, particularly ABI and HES?
How much automation is acceptable to the operational NOAA organizations (NWS, OSDPD and OSO) and to the users?

20. Summary
GOES-I/M and GOES-NOP series schedules are optimized to their instruments capabilities
Real-time task changes, such as RSO, required intensive collaboration between NWS, OSDPD and OSO
GOES-NOP series will benefit from eclipse imaging capability and reduced HK outages
Instrument tasking will remain essentially unchanged
The GOES-R system will benefit from enhanced instrument performance and increased operational “up-time”
This stage in the GOES-R developmental process is an excellent time to field your questions, comments and feedback

21. Links to Additional Information
NOAA GOES-R Page – Links to CONOPS, GPRD, MRD
NOAA/NESDIS OSD Page
NOAA Scheduling Information
Instrument Research at CIMSS
ABI Documentation from NASA: