It's kind of hard to explain how important weather is to our job.
I mean, it really affects everything we do.
In 2018, NOAA launches the GOES-S satellite,
which takes its place in orbit as GOES-17.
Working together with GOES-16,
the two new geostationary weather satellites will provide constant watch over the United States
and the Western Hemisphere from the west coast of Africa all the way to New Zealand,
helping monitor severe storms, wildfires, and daily weather patterns.
Since its launch,
NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite has already demonstrated
its critical capability for keeping our nation Weather Ready.
Throughout the active 2017 hurricane season,
GOES-16 delivered imagery with detail and clarity never achieved before,
with four times greater resolution than previous NOAA satellites,
and delivered this imagery faster than ever before,
helping forecasters predict the path of a storm and where and when it will intensify.
These accurate and timely forecasts
allowed for emergency managers to prepare for evacuations, map flood areas, and save lives.
So the weather matters.
The weather matters before the weather happens
The weather matters after the event happens.
...because what we're able to do to prepare
--allocate resources, provide information to the public through the media beforehand--
and what we're able to do afterwards--
how and when the waters are going to recede
so we know we can get vehicles with food and shelter and life saving equipment
down a particular highway--
all of that depends on the forecast.
In the GOES-West position,
GOES-17 will be able to provide critical data for the westernmost United States, Alaska and Hawaii.
We're talking about getting data updates in just seconds,
so we can quickly spot wildfires and closely monitor
the wind direction and their intensity.
The crispness of the data coming in at a faster rate
will also help with fog forecasts.
We can see the moment the strata starts to develop
or, when it starts to move out.
Like GOES-16,
GOES-17 carries a suite of advanced instruments,
including tools for sophisticated Earth-sensing, lightning-detecting,
solar imaging, and space weather monitoring.
As an equal partner in the sky,
GOES-17 will expand coverage of the Advanced Baseline Imager technology
across the Pacific Ocean
allowing meteorologists and local officials
to see severe weather systems developing in real time.
So, instead of seeing something this large,
that, as you zoom in, actually gets kind of blurry...
you're actually going to see something that is much more detailed.
In its GOES West position,
GOES-17 will be able to monitor conditions in the western U.S.
- like wildfires, coastal fog, and atmospheric rivers -
-when storms from the Pacific dump heavy rain and snow over the western U.S.
GOES-17 will have a major impact on fighting wildfires in California.
Up to the minute information in crisp detail
allows forecasters to spot fires faster than ever before,
even before the first 911 calls come in,
and to better track and predict the paths of large, dynamic and dangerous fires.
It's amazing to see what we can get
and at the level of detail and the speed
that we can get the information down to the ground.
It makes our decision-making way more accurate.
With a view of the Pacific Ocean,
GOES-17 will also provide a critical eye over shipping lanes
vital to the US economy -
protecting cargo and passenger vessels from dangerous ocean storms.
GOES-17 will also provide a high definition view over Alaska,
resulting in better weather forecasts
and improved monitoring of sea ice, wildfires, and volcanic ash.
The advanced baseline imager on GOES-17
can distinguish between clouds, sea ice, and snow cover -
- a critical need during Alaska’s dark, cloudy winter months.
GOES-17’s Geostationary Lightning mapper monitors lightning flashes,
including the in-cloud lightning most prevalent in severe storms,
helping forecasters determine when a storm is forming, intensifying and becoming more dangerous.
Thanks to GOES-17,
emergency managers will be equipped with more accurate weather predictions and faster warnings –
providing a real impact, saving lives and protecting infrastructure.
Watching over Earth from 22,300 miles above,
GOES-S will provide vital data to our Weather-Ready Nation!