[McIDAS #AKP-990660]: GOES-12

Hi Waldenio,

re:
> And about the goes images, yesterday I talked with a guy from satellite
> division, and he told me that they receive only 5 channels.

Correct.  Each of the current GOES platforms has 5 imager channels.  The
difference between GOES-10 and GOES-12 is that the longwave IR channel
is different: 12.0 um for GOES-10 and 13.3 um for GOES-12.

re:
> Now I am guessing that the "channel 5" is the "channel 6". But he did
> not agree with this.

The convention in the U.S. satellite community is to keep the BAND numbers
separate between GOES platforms that are operational at the same time.  In
practice this means that one refers to the 5 channels on GOES-12 as BANDs 1
(0.65 um VIS), BAND 2 (3.9 um shortwave IR), BAND 3 (6.5 um WV), BAND 4
(10.7 um thermal IR), and BAND 6 (13.3 um CO2).

re:
> Just insist that it is a 5´ channel or something...

In order to make the image sectors that you make available in AREA file
format compatible with the AREA files from all providers of the GOES-12
data, you should change the band number in the AREA file header
before you make the images available to end-users.

re:
> Well, I think that people here are a bit confused about...

Perhaps you can make contact with them again and explain why the BAND
numbers should be kept separate.  I would use the following table:

        GOES-10      GOES-12
BAND 1: 0.65 um       0.65 um
BAND 2:  3.9 um        3.9 um
BAND 3:  6.5 um        6.5 um
BAND 4: 10.7 um       10.7 um
BAND 5: 12.0 um       -------
BAND 6: -------       13.3 um

This separation allows scientists to refer to BANDs 5 and 6 with no
uncertainty about what the wavelength is.

Cheers,

Tom
--
****************************************************************************
Unidata User Support                                    UCAR Unidata Program
(303) 497-8642                                                 P.O. Box 3000
address@hidden                                   Boulder, CO 80307
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unidata HomePage                       http://www.unidata.ucar.edu
****************************************************************************


Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: AKP-990660
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed