GOES-16 captured this view of the moon as it looked from across the surface of the Earth in January.
NOAA
GOES-16 captured this view of the moon as it looked from across the surface of the Earth in January. NOAA
This composite-color, full-disk visible image is from 1:07pm EDT on January 15, 2017 and was created using several of the 16 spectral channels available on the GOES-16 Advanced Baseline Imager.
NOAA
This composite-color, full-disk visible image is from 1:07pm EDT on January 15, 2017 and was created using several of the 16 spectral channels available on the GOES-16 Advanced Baseline Imager. NOAA
The Saharan Dust Layer can be discerned in the far right edge of this image of Earth.
NOAA
The Saharan Dust Layer can be discerned in the far right edge of this image of Earth. NOAA
NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite captures a view of the entire Western Hemisphere, in this case, Argentina. Storms are evident in the northeast, and mountain wave clouds can be seen in the southwest.
NOAA
From its central location, GOES-16 captured this image of the West Coast of the United States and the Baja Peninsula in Mexico.
NOAA
Here the satellite captures the shallow waters of the Caribbean.
NOA
This image clearly shows the significant storm system that crossed North America that caused freezing and ice that resulted in dangerous conditions across the United States on January 15.
NOAA
On January 15, severe weather moved across the central United States before passing through the Northeast on the 16th and 17th, where it resulted in wet and wintry weather for travelers across the region.
NOAA
This area of Mexico and Central America is seen from GOES-16 with a largely cloud-free view. A fire and its associated smoke are evident over southern Mexico near the coast.
NOAA
This 16-panel image shows the continental United States in the two visible, four near-infrared and 10 infrared channels on ABI. These channels help forecasters distinguish between differences in the atmosphere like clouds, water vapor, smoke, ice and volcanic ash.
NOAA

In November, the most expensive and advanced weather satellite ever built in the United States launched, and it then spent several weeks reaching a geosynchronous orbit nearly 36,000km from Earth. After some initial diagnostics, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration turned the GOES-16 satellite (GOES stands for “Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite”) on and began taking photos of Earth.

On Monday, the agency released the first images taken by GOES-16—and do they ever deliver the goods. “These images come from the most sophisticated technology ever flown in space to predict severe weather on Earth,” said Stephen Volz, director of NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service. “The fantastically rich images provide us with our first glimpse of the impact GOES-16 will have on developing life-saving forecasts.” The satellite will continue to undergo testing during the next several months before becoming full operational in November.

This is the first of four spacecraft in NOAA’s GOES-R series, and the spacecraft are estimated to cost about $11 billion through 2035. The satellite will have three times the number of data channels as its most immediate predecessor, the GOES 15 that was launched in 2010. The GOES-R improves every current GOES satellite product, while adding new information about lightning, smoke, fires, and volcanic ash, among other variables. The additional data should improve both real-time forecasting of severe weather events, as well as improve data ingested by global computer models that provide the basic output for 5- and 10-day forecasts.

The satellite’s primary camera, the Advanced Baseline Imager, produced the images released Monday. It can view the Earth with 16 different spectral bands, compared to five on the current generation of GOES satellites. The camera has a resolution of about 0.5km, compared to 1.0km, and can image areas of interest such as large thunderstorm complexes or hurricanes every 30 to 60 seconds, compared to every 15 minutes from preexisting geosynchronous satellites.