GOES-16 Drift and Transition to Operations

GOES-16 is planned to begin drifting to the GOES-East operational location of 75.2 degrees west longitude on November 30, 2017. Drift is scheduled to complete on December 11, 2017 and nominal operations will resume by December 20, 2017. During the drift period, five instruments (ABI, GLM, SUVI, SEISS, and EXIS) will be placed in safe or diagnostic modes and will not be capturing or distributing data. MAG is the only instrument that will continue to operate with nominal data distribution during the transition. GOES Rebroadcast (GRB), Data Collection System (DCS), High Rate Information Transmission (HRIT)/ Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN), and the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system will be disabled during drift. This is due to X-band radio frequency downlink interference.

On December 7, 2017, GOES-13 GOES VARiable (GVAR) service will begin relay through GOES-14 and will be available through both satellites until December 14, 2017, at which time GOES-13 GVAR will only be transmitted through GOES-14. GOES-13 GVAR users will need to repoint their antennas to 105 degrees west to maintain receipt of GOES-13 data. Once GOES-16 reaches 75.2 degrees west on December 11, 2017, there will be three to nine days of calibration activity. All instruments will resume nominal operations by December 20, 2017, and GOES-16 will officially become GOES-East. There will be a period of overlap with GOES-13, which will remain at 75 degrees west, after GOES-16 becomes GOES-East. GOES-13 will remain on and provide data until January 2, 2018, at which time it will begin drifting to its storage location at 60 degrees west. During this period of overlap, GOES-13 GVAR will be relayed through GOES-14. Additional information will be communicated as needed.

All drift and transition operations will be led by the NESDIS Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO) with GOES-R Program operational support. Final scheduling of drift operations may change based on operational needs and will be a NOAA-level decision.

See for more information - http://www.goes-r.gov/users/transitiontToOperations.html 

Change in Satellite Broadcast Network

Effective on or about January 16, 2018, the SES-1 satellite will no longer provide data to the NWS Satellite Broadcast Network (SBN). Data will become available from the Galaxy 28 satellite (G-28) by early December, before discontinuing the broadcast from SES-1. In addition, the location of the Master Ground Station (MGS) will move to Holmdel, NJ; the Backup Master Ground Station (BMGS) will remain in Fairmont, WV. These changes are a result of the transition to Signal Mountain as the new NWS SBN communications support subcontractor under Raytheon, the Prime Contractor for the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS).

The downlink antennas at all receiving site ground stations (SGS) will need to repoint to G-28 to accommodate this transition. Users should not need new equipment to continue receiving NOAAPORT data once the antenna has been adjusted.

Important specifications are below:

Galaxy 28 Satellite Location (new): 89 degrees West FEC Type: DVB-S2

Polarity: Vertical/Right

Band: High, C-Band

The changeover from SES-1 to G-28 will occur in several phases to ensure a smooth transition that maximizes the amount of time with satellite backup coverage. The date of the initial broadcast from G-28 is still being finalized. Additional information and specific dates will be provided in the coming weeks in the form of subsequent Service Change Notices.

If NOAAPORT users experience problems with service during the satellite transition period, please contact James Calkins and Kevin Conaty at NWS Headquarters.

Kevin Conaty

    NOAA/NWS Office of Central Processing

    Silver Spring, MD 20910

    Email: Kevin.Conaty@noaa.gov

James Calkins

    NOAA/NWS Office of Central Processing

    Silver Spring, MD 20910

    Email: James.Calkins@noaa.gov

NWS AWIPS sites experiencing service problems should contact the Network Control Facility.

AWIPS Network Control Facility (NCF) Help Desk

    NOAA/NWS Office of Central Processing

    Silver Spring, MD 20910

    Email: nws.ncf.supervisors@noaa.gov

NWS National Service Change Notices are online at:

 http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm