These instruments resolution visible and infrared data, as well as temperature and moisture profiles of the atmosphere. They continuously transmit these data to ground terminals where the data are processed for rebroadcast to primary weather services both in the United States and around the world, including the global research community. Each element of the mission has been designed to meet all in-orbit performance requirements for at least five years. A dedicated search and rescue transponder on board GOES is designed to detect emergency distress signals originating from Earth-based sources. The combined data are used to perform effective search and rescue operations.
Pacific coverage includes Hawaii and the Gulf of Alaska.
This is accomplished by two satellites, GOES West located at 135 west longitude and GOES East at 75 west longitude. A common ground station, the CDA station located at Wallops, Virginia, supports the interface to both satellites. Delivery of products involves ground processing of the raw instrument data for radiometric calibration and Earth location information, and retransmission to the satellite for relay to the data user community. Processed data are also received by Department of Defense installations, universities, and numerous private commercial users. The instrument can produce full-Earth disc images, sector images that contain the edges of the Earth, and various sizes of area scans completely enclosed within the Earth scene using a new flexible scan system.