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