Abstract The United States supported the First GARP Global Experiment (FGGE) by the use of three geostationary satellites: GOES-East, located at 75°W longitude, GOES-West at 135°W longitude, and, through a special cooperative effort by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the European Space Agency, GOES-Indian Ocean at 58°E longitude. During the FGGE Operational Year, the GOES-East coverage was provided, in turn, by GOES-2, SMS-1, and SMS-2. The GOES-West coverage was provided by GOES-3, and GOES-1 served at the GOES-Indian Ocean location. Satellite and instrument performance was generally satisfactory during that period except for the loss of infrared data from the Indian Ocean GOES for an aggregate of 31 days due to intermittent operation of the sensor. From the GOES-East and GOES-West data, the National Environmental Satellite Service produced cloud motion vectors for 0000, 1200, and 1800 GMT daily, numbering in total about 1400 vectors per day. High resolution wind vectors at the rate of somewhat under 3000 daily were derived from the data from all three satellites in the tropical zone bounded by 15°N and 15°S latitude by the University of Wisconsin. In addition to their contributions to the FGGE research data sets, these three satellites provided other real-time benefits and services.
Geostationary operational environmental satellite system performance
Advances in Space Research ; 1 , 4 ; 23-31
1981-01-01
9 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English