First Data Revealed From GOES-16 Lightning And Solar Instruments

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released the first images from two Earth and solar weather-monitoring space instruments aboard the GOES-16 satellite, which launched in November. Today's images from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) are a first for continuous lightning tracking in geostationary orbit, 22,300 miles above the earth.

Last week NOAA also released the first images from the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI), which gives faster warning for solar storms. Both GLM and SUVI were designed and built at Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, California.

GOES-16 is the first of a series of four next-generation satellites built by Lockheed Martin, and each will host a GLM and SUVI instrument. The GOES-R program—as the series is called—is a collaborative mission between NOAA and NASA.

GLM is the first operational lightning mapper flown in geostationary orbit. The satellite also monitors frequency, location and extent of lightning discharges, and takes hundreds of images each second

Produced more lightning data in its first weeks than all previous lightning data from space combined
"GLM is a first-of-a-kind capability for lightning monitoring at geostationary orbit," said Jeff Vanden Beukel, Lockheed Martin GOES-R instruments director. "Seeing individual lightning strikes from 22,300 miles away is an incredible feat, plus we're monitoring cloud-to-cloud lightning for the first time. All this will give forecasters better data to give people on the ground, at sea and in the air faster severe weather warning."

SUVI observes the sun in six extreme ultraviolet channels, all in an instrument the size of a gym bag. It is designed to compile full disk images—or complete views of the sun—around the clock, and the data collected provides estimated coronal plasma temperatures and solar emission measurements.

"We built SUVI so it can deliver solar storm warning faster than any other space instrument, plus an upgrade in resolution over current GOES systems," said Jeff Vanden Beukel, Lockheed Martin GOES-R instruments director. "Solar storms can cause blackouts here on Earth and shut down satellites in orbit. Faster warning lets us protect these assets before disaster strikes."

(Images provided with Lockheed Martin news release)

FMI: www.lockheedmartin.com