From Photons to Pixels: Processing Data from the Advanced Baseline Imager

Abstract

Abstract:The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) is the primary Earth observing sensor on the new generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES-R) series, and provides significant spectral, spatial and temporal observational enhancements compared to the legacy GOES satellites. ABI also provides enhanced capabilities for operational sensor calibration and image navigation and registration (INR) to enable observations of the Earth with high spectral fidelity as well as creating images that are accurately mapped and co-registered over time. Unlike earlier GOES Imagers, ABI has onboard calibration capability for all sixteen bands in the reflective and emissive bands. The calibration process includes periodic and routine views of the internal reflective and blackbody targets as well as views of space and the moon. Improvements in INR are made possible by having a Global Positioning System (GPS) on board the spacecraft and routine measurements of stars through the sensor's boresight for orbit and attitude determination through a Kalman filter. This paper describes how the sensor data are processed into calibrated and geolocated radiances that enable the generation of imagery and higher level products for both meteorological and non-meteorological Earth science applications. Some examples of ABI images and calibration are presented to demonstrate the capabilities and applications of the sensor.

The Dark Side of Hurricane Matthew: Unique Perspectives from the VIIRS Day/Night Band

“…GEO satellites provide superior temporal resolution based on their ability to "hover" over locations within their hemispheric field of view, owing to their ~35,786-km-altitude equatorial orbits selected to match exactly the rotation rate of Earth. As such, GEO satellites allow forecasters to watch the weather in motion, down to scales of 1-min refresh (Kalluri et al 2018) via the latest generation of technology [e.g., the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R series (GOES-R); www.goes-r.gov]. LEO environmental monitoring satellites, flying in orbits around 650-850-km altitude (or ~50 times closer to the Earth than GEO orbits), trade this high refresh rate for global coverage, higher spatial resolution, and a greater complement of spectral information, including cloud-probing passive microwave observations.…”

Shining light on sky cover during a total solar eclipse

“…The lunar umbra and penumbra from the eclipse were also clearly evident in the ABI near-infrared bands, particularly the 0.86-μm vegetation band, 7 though the relatively high reflectance of land surfaces at that wavelength makes cloud detection more challenging. The presence of cloud on satellite imagery adequately corresponds to the gridded surface sky observations, though the coverage accuracy is difficult to assess other than subjectively.…”

GOES‐16/ABI Thermal Emissive Band Assessments Using GEO‐LEO‐GEO Double Difference

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“…2.1. GOES-16/ABI and Himawari-8/AHI GOES-16 is the first satellite of the GOES-R series and was launched on 19 November 2016 (Schmit et al, 2017;Kalluri et al, 2018, andGoodman et al, 2018). The spacecraft was initially positioned in a nonoperational test position at 89.5°west.…”