Satellite Products
RadarScope Pro Tier Two and AllisonHouse subscribers can view satellite imagery from GOES-East and GOES-West. Each satellite provides a suite of products in multiple domains of varying spatial and temporal resolution.
Band 1: Blue
The blue band at 0.47 µm is one of two visible bands. It's primary uses are monitoring aerosols such as smoke and dust, and air quality monitoring. As a visible spectrum product, it's only useful during the day.
Band 2: Red
The red band at 0.64 µm has the highest spatial resolution, making it ideal for identifying small-scale feautres such as river fogs and fog boundaries. It's primary uses are daytime monitoring of clouds and volcanic ash.
True-Color RGB
True color imagery provides an approximation of what you'd see from space. GOES lacks a green band, so it approximates one by combining the blue, red, and vegetation bands.
False-Color RGB
Band 3: Vegetation
The 0.86 µm band is used to calculate the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). It provides a high contrast between water and land, and is useful for assessing land characteristics, including the effects of flooding, fires, and hail. It's essential for simulating the green band needed for true color images.
Band 4: Cirrus
The 1.37 µm band uniquely occupies a region of very strong absorption by water vapor. It's primary uses are detection of thin cirrus cloud alyers during the day and volcanic ash monitoring.
Band 5: Snow/Ice
This band takes advantage of the difference between the refraction components of water and ice at 1.61 µm. It's useful for daytime snow, ice, and cloud discrimination, since snow and ice are dark compared to liquid water clouds.
Band 6: Cloud Particle Size
The 2.24 µm band is useful for determining cloud particle size and hot spot detection.
Band 7: Shortwave Window
The 3.9 µm band is useful for detecting low stratus clouds and fog, as well as detection of fires, hot spots, and volcanic ash.
Band 7 - Band 14
Band 8: Upper-Level Water Vapor
The 6.2 µm band is useful for detecting upper-level features such as the jet stream and atmospheric waves.
Band 9: Mid-Level Water Vapor
The 6.9 µm band is useful for detecting mid-level atmospheric features.
Band 10: Lower-Level Water Vapor
The 7.3 µm band is useful for detecting low-level features such as the elevated mixed layer and fronts.
Band 11: Cloud-Top Phase
The 8.5 µm band provides input to cloud-top phase and type products, as well as the detection of volcanic ash and dust.
Band 12: Ozone Band
The 9.6 µm band is able to detect dynamics near the tropopause, including stratospheric intrusions associated with cyclogenisis and as input to derived products.
Band 13: Clean Longwave
This 10.3 µm band is less sensitive to atmospheric moisture than other IR channels, so brightness temperatures are usually warming than traditional IR.
Band 14: Longwave Window
The 11.2 µm band is the traditional IR window, used for low stratus cloud and fog detection.
Band 15: Dirty Longwave
The 12.3 µm band is more sensitive to moisture compared to other channles, so brightness temperatures are cooler. It's used in calculations for total precipitable water and low-level moisture.
Band 16: CO₂ Longwave
The 13.3 µm band can be used to estimate tropospheric air temperture and to highlight high, cold, and possibly icy clouds.
Band 13 - Band 15
Learn More
You can learn more about GOES satellite data through these resources: