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NOAA To Move GOES-9 To Back Up Japanese Weather Satellite
Washington - Mar 25, 2003 After April 19, any powerful typhoon that threatens nations along the western edge of the Pacific, will be monitored closely by Japanese meteorologists thanks to an agreement that provides for the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to operate GOES-9 -- a weather satellite that meets Japanese and U.S. weather forecast and storm monitoring requirements. The movement of GOES-9 is an important step in developing mutual backup meteorological arrangements between the United States and Japan, NOAA's top official said today.
Backup Arrangement Critical "GOES-9 will help forecasters protect residents of Japan and other nations in the Pacific by providing the latest information on the storm's movement." Last year, powerful Typhoon Chata'an hammered Micronesia, the Philippines, Guam, the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Japan. In the end, 2002 produced a total of 31 typhoons in the western Pacific, with 11 menacing Micronesia alone. "GOES-9 is ready for action just in time for the 2003 typhoon season," said Gregory W. Withee, assistant administrator of NOAA's National Environmental, Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA Satellite and Information). The agency operates NOAA's two GOES satellites, which are key to forecasting short-range weather events, including tornadoes, floods and tropical cyclones.
Moving Toward Global Coverage The agreement also lays the framework to negotiate a long-term mutual back-up arrangement, which would allow the United States to ask Japan for help if one of the U.S. GOES satellites has problems. GOES-9 will back up Japan's Geostationary Meteorological Satellite-5 (GMS-5), which is operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency. GMS-5, launched in 1995, is past its useful life and has encountered recent imaging troubles and fuel shortages. GOES-9, also launched in 1995, was placed in storage mode after it no longer met NOAA's full operational requirements. The satellite still has sounding and imaging capabilities and can serve as a limited replacement for the GMS-5. In 1999, Japan planned to replace the ailing satellite with its Multifunctional Transportation Satellite (MTSAT-1), but experienced a launch failure. The replacement satellite, MTSAT-1R, is currently scheduled for launch this summer. "When severe weather threatens, an uninterrupted flow of satellite data becomes a matter of life or death," Withee said. "This agreement makes that notion possible for storms in the Pacific." NOAA Satellite and Information is the nation's primary source of space-based meteorological and climate data. It operates the nation's environmental satellites, which are used for weather and ocean observation and forecasting, climate monitoring, sea-surface temperature, fire detection, and ozone monitoring. NOAA Satellite and Information Services also operates three data centers, which house global databases in climatology, oceanography, solid Earth geophysics, marine geology and geophysics, solar-terrestrial physics and paleoclimatology. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links NOAA SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Dirt, rocks and all the stuff we stand on firmly
Rescuers Seek Survivors As Phillipines Storm Leaves 300 Dead, 150 Missing
Real, Philippines (AFP) Nov 30, 2004Rescuers were desperately searching for survivors Tuesday after floods and landslides unleashed by a tropical storm in the Philippines killed more than 300 people and left at least 150 others missing, many buried alive under tonnes of debris. |
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