First GOES-R instrument ready to be installed onto spacecraft

May 2, 2013

The first of six instruments that will fly on GOES-R, NOAA’s next-generation of geostationary operational environmental satellites, has been completed seven months before its scheduled installation onto the spacecraft.

The instrument, the Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors, or EXIS, will provide forecasters at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center with some of the most important early warnings of impending solar storms. It will also give scientists a more accurate measure of the extremes in solar energy radiating toward earth, which can severely disrupt telecommunications, air travel, and the performance of power grids.

“Severe space weather has the potential to cause significant damage to the U.S. and global economy, so it’s critical GOES-R has this technology in place as quickly as possible to monitor it,” said Mary Kicza, assistant administrator for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service.

GOES-R, scheduled to launch in 2015, will be more advanced than NOAA’s current GOES fleet. The satellites are expected to more than double the clarity of today’s GOES imagery and provide more atmospheric observations than current capabilities with more frequent images. Data from the GOES-R instruments will be used to create many different products, enabling NOAA meteorologists and other users to better monitor the atmosphere, land, ocean and the sun, facilitating more timely and accurate forecasts and warnings.

The University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) built and tested EXIS.

EXIS will be shipped from the LASP site in Boulder to Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. in Littleton, Colo., later this year to be installed onto the spacecraft. Lockheed is building the GOES-R spacecraft.

The remaining GOES-R instruments to be delivered are:

the Advanced Baseline Imager, the primary instrument on GOES-R for imaging Earth’s weather, climate, and environment;Geostationary Lightning Mapper, which will provide for the first time a continuous surveillance of total lightning over the western hemisphere from space;the Space Environment In-Situ Suite, which consists of sensors that will monitor radiation hazards that can affect satellites and communications for commercial airline flights over the poles; the Solar Ultraviolet Imager, a high-powered telescope that observes the sun, monitoring for solar flares and other solar activity that could impact Earth, andthe Magnetometer, which will provide measurements of the space environment magnetic field that controls charged particle dynamics in the outer region of the magnetosphere. These particles can be dangerous to spacecraft and human spaceflight.

 NOAA manages the GOES-R Series Program through an integrated NOAA-NASA program office, staffed with personnel from NOAA and NASA, and co-located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

“We’re just a few years away from seeing significant improvements in the way NOAA will serve the public with even better weather forecasts and warnings,” said Greg Mandt, director of the GOES-R Series Program..

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.

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Society not ready for heat waves coming with climate change

Health officials are better prepared for heat waves than they used to be, but they have more to do in the face of climate change, experts say.

Denny Simmons, Evansville Courier & Press/AP

Evelyn Levitt, 7, kneels in the waters of Old National Bank's fountain in Evansville, Ind., on June 25.

Denny Simmons, Evansville Courier & Press/AP

Evelyn Levitt, 7, kneels in the waters of Old National Bank's fountain in Evansville, Ind., on June 25.

"Nationally and internationally we are much more aware of the danger of extreme heat than we were in 1995," says sociologist Eric Klinenberg, author of Heat Wave: A social autopsy of disaster in Chicago, about the three-day heat wave that caused 739 excess deaths and thousands of hospitalizations in 1995.

"We're more prepared than we were in 1995. A lot of Americans are still vulnerable, and our power grid is vulnerable, too."

Medical workers reported few problems related to the past week's heat wave in parts of the USA that suffered extreme temperatures but were spared Friday night's storms that knocked out power to more than 3 million customers.

But in the District of Columbia, where heat and power outages struck together, sick patients at home who rely on electronic medical devices suffered doubly, and hospitals had to improvise, says Bill Frohna, chairman of the emergency department at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. "Before the storm came we saw some heat-related stuff, but once you throw the power issue on top of the heat, families didn't know what to do," Frohna said. "When no one has power they don't have a backup plan."

Even the Washington hospital had a plan for heat and a plan for outages, but not a plan for the two together, Frohna said.

After storms cut power to millions, hospital workers Saturday saw a spike in patients with chronic diseases who need electricity to operate home dialysis units and machines that deliver intravenous fluids, medications, tube feedings and oxygen, Frohna said.

Many arrived at the hospital with temperatures of 104 and could have been discharged after emergency cooling treatment and hydration, if they had a safe place to go, but they didn't, Frohna said.

Instead, hospital workers opened waiting spaces in part of the emergency room and the hospital's central registration area to let patients convalesce with their family members while caseworkers searched for cool, safe places with power where they can be sent.

Overall, the hospital saw a daily increase of 15% to 30% above normal during the weekend and Monday, Frohna said.

"Saturday (was) one of our biggest Saturdays in recent memory," he said.

Parts of the country that did not lose power because of the storm fared better.

In Indiana, where the heat wave has been going strong for a week, 153 emergency patients visited the state's emergency rooms for heat-related issues in all of last week, says Amy Reel, spokeswoman for the Indiana State Department of Health. The number of heat-related injuries has been relatively small because everyone is taking the heat seriously, says Wishard Hospital emergency physician John Boe. "There's more awareness of how dangerous this kind of weather can be," Boe said.

The news media have gotten better at getting the word out. Hospitals are better prepared. Public officials have made more cooling centers available and neighbors are checking on neighbors without air conditioning, Boe said.

Boe, who teaches at Indiana University's Department of Emergency Medicine, says the Chicago heat wave of 1995 was a turning point in his field.

"In our teachings, they always talk about the Chicago heat wave," he said.

Multiple factors led to the high death toll of the Chicago heat wave, Klinenberg says. High humidity combined with triple-digit heat and little nighttime cooling to turn the lakeside city into a furnace. Mayor Richard Daley and the city's fire and health commissioners were away on vacation. And the city failed to implement its plan for extreme heat, Klinenberg says.

High demand for electricity caused outages, and much of the city lost water as residents opened hydrants to cool off and then fought with city officials trying to close them. Most of the fatalities were elderly, isolated bachelors in the poorest sections of town, Klinenberg says.

Even worse disasters happened in Europe in 2003, when 70,000 excess deaths were caused by an extreme heat event that lasted three weeks, and in Russia in 2010, when a heat wave caused 50,000 excess deaths.

The USA has yet to experience such an extreme heat event, but some experts believe that with climate change it's only a matter of time.

Climate projections see global warming driving longer, warmer and more frequent heat waves for North America in coming years, says Princeton climate scientist Ngar-Cheung Lau.

Essentially, global warming raises the odds of heat waves, and at the same time worsens their effects due to the warmer temperature it brings on average, he says. "One cannot attach certainty to any one weather event being driven by climate change, but this heat wave is certainly striking in its size, severity and duration, similar to the sort of heat waves seen in climate projections," Lau says.

Klinenberg says cities such as Washington, Philadelphia and New York City are ill prepared.

"We need to make sure that cities can get through the worst heat wave," he says. "In New York City, police officers drive through streets using loudspeakers asking people to turn down their air conditioning during the day. The power grid can't handle it."

Contributing: Dan Vergano

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Get Ready For Big Weather Changes

CLOUDY & BREEZY WEDNESDAY

It has been a mild morning with temperatures hovering in the lower to mid 60s. It has been a gusty morning with south winds getting up to 30-35 mph at times. It will be a breezy, if not windy day today, but no WIND ADVISORY is expected. We don’t expect a lot of rain either…just a few sprinkles late this evening.

RAINY, STORM THURSDAY…THEN A PLUNGE IN TEMPS!

A fairly potent low pressure center over the Rockies will be slowly slogging our way over the next several days. It will help drag a cold front through our area Thursday afternoon. This is a strong cold front and temps will fall precipitously behind the front setting the stage for a chilly end of the week. With the front, there is a chance of some strong thunderstorms across North Texas. The SPC has put a good chunk of North Texas under the SLIGHT RISK for severe weather Thursday afternoon. Because we expect to see such extensive cloud cover ahead of the front our chance of a huge outbreak of severe weather appears less likely. But a few storms could produce larger hail and strong winds…along with heavy rainfall.

LOT OF RAIN COMING

The system as it moves in Thursday will provide plenty of lift along with ample moisture to produce widespread rainfall over North Texas.  Some of the rain will be heavy at times.  Because this low pressure system is so slow-moving…we will have a decent shot at rain not only Thursday..but Friday & Saturday as well.  When all is said and done by the end of the weekend, there is forecast to be a wide area of 2-4” of rainfall.  Some locations east of I-45 could see upwards of 6 or 7” of rain!!  Obviously we’ll keep an eye on this…how much rain we get will depend on where different boundaries end up over our area.  But as it looks now, we will need to monitor the possibilities of flooding going into the weekend.

Today….Cloudy & breezy.  20% chance of spotty showers late. High 73° South wind 15-25 mph.

Tonight…Cloudy with a 30% chance of rain.  Low 66°  South wind 10-20 mph.

Thursday…Cloudy & breezy.  80% chance of rain & t’storms.  Some storms strong afternoon.  Temperatures peak at 70° by midday…then falling rapidly by afternoon into the lower 50s!  South wind becoming north wind 15-25 mph.

Friday…Cloudy & chilly.  50% chance of rain.  High 54°

Saturday…Mostly cloudy.  50% chance of rain.  High 57°

Sunday…Partly to mostly cloudy.  30% chance of rain.  High 65°

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