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Advanced satellite may sharply improve storm forecastsBy Patrick O'Driscoll, USA TODAY
DENVER — Users of weather images and data gathered from space get a peek Monday at plans for a future satellite that could sharpen hurricane forecasts and give earlier warnings of tornadoes, winter storms and other severe weather.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is holding a three-day conference in a Denver suburb this week on the next decade's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite. NOAA will exchange ideas with about 200 scientists, weather company representatives and government, academic and industry experts. The weather satellite, known as GOES-R, is under design for use after 2012.
The meeting comes less than three weeks before the scheduled May 18 launch of GOES-N, one of the next three weather craft to go into space before GOES-R. This month's launch will be the 12th in a line of GOES satellites that began service in 1975 and have become the backbone of weather forecasting for the United States.
GOES satellites sit in stationary orbits 22,300 miles above the equator. Working in pairs, they constantly monitor weather over the eastern and western halves of the United States. Their images of hurricanes, snowstorms and other severe weather are seen daily on TV newscasts by millions of viewers.
Five other NOAA satellites circle Earth at lower altitudes, along north-south polar routes, to track global weather. NASA, which also operates weather satellites, launched two polar orbiters last week to study how cloud layers may affect global warming.
GOES-R's estimated $6 billion-to-$8 billion price tag will dwarf the combined $2.1 billion cost of the three GOES satellites scheduled before it. Tony Comberiate, GOES-R program manager, says it will carry instruments that can gather 50 times as much data three times more often — every 5 minutes, compared with 15 minutes for present satellites.
"This will be a big boost in capability," says John J. "Jack" Kelly Jr., a retired Air Force general who heads NOAA's day-to-day operations. He compares GOES-R's improvement to the difference between high-definition television and conventional TV sets.
Among the future instruments onboard: A lightning "mapper" to help predict thunderstorms and tornadoes sooner and a "sounder" that takes 3-D readings of atmosphere, temperature and moisture to better profile hurricanes and other severe weather.
That would help improve "our intensity forecasts for hurricanes," Kelly says.
GOES-R also will carry improved gear for measuring solar radiation, cosmic rays and other "space weather" that can affect manned spacecraft, high-flying aircraft and electrical and communications grids.
A view of Hurricane Wilma from a GOES-Floater RGB satellite photo. GOES-R, set to fly after 2012, will be able to gather 50 times as much data three times more often than the current satellites.
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